Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
Why U.S. tax policy makes saving a sucker's game
For the first time since the Great Depression, the U.S. personal savings rate has "gone negative. Americans are "overspending." Why are we doing this? Perverse tax laws for investments discourage saving, so it's no surprise we spend. If I said to you, "You can have $10,000 to spend now—or $9,500 to spend in 10 years," which would you choose?
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Meet the World's New Second Richest Man
Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim has quietly overtaken investor Warren Buffett as the world's second-richest man and is close to wresting the top spot from Bill Gates, Forbes magazine reported Wednesday.
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The World's Cheapest Cars
Only a few years ago, premium cars were all the rage. Now automakers around the world are scrambling to build cars that cost less than $10,000. And some are even striving for a sticker price as low as $3,000.
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25% Of Americans Say They Have No Savings At All, Including Retirement
If you have less than 25k saved you're in good company, or at least, there are lots of you. 50% of workers 35 to 44 have less than that amount saved. 1/3 of those aged 45 and over did too. 25% of people surveyed had no savings at all. No savings account. No retirement account. No investments. Nothing. Zero. Bad Idea.
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1 million borrowers may be at risk of defaulting on their mortgages
Want to pick up the check for every homeowner who got saddled with a risky mortgage? It's a big one - on the order of $120 billion. Lawmakers and consumer groups in recent weeks have been calling for assistance for those at risk of defaulting on their mortgage.
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US generals urge immediate action on global warming
Former US military leaders have called on the Bush administration to make major cuts in greenhouse gas emission
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Massacre at Virginia Tech: 25 Confirmed Dead
At least 25 people are dead in what may be the biggest mass killing on a college campus in American history — and the death toll may rise. Police at Virginia Tech say that the shootings happened at a dormitory and a classroom on opposite sides of the university campus in Blacksburg, Va.
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"Plan to hijack an aircraft by Islamic radical" pre 9/11 report by France
French secret services produced nine reports between September 2000 and August 2001 looking at the al Qaeda threat to the United States, and knew it planned to hijack an aircraft, the French daily Le Monde said on Monday. One document prepared in January 2001 was entitled "Plan to hijack an aircraft by Islamic radicals",
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Eagles mistakenly pay player $3 Million bonus twice!
Damn - why can't this kind of thing happen to me? Brian Westbrook received an extra $3 million from the Philadelphia Eagles in an accounting error. He said he plans to repay them but hasn't yet - so they filed a grievance against him...
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UK homes to get free 'real-time' energy monitors
Every household in the UK will be able to request a free device that shows how much electricity is being used in the home at any one particular moment.
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How To: Build Your Own WiFi Signal Booster
"The parabolic Asian cooking (dumpling) strainer is the perfect candidate for this project. I was able to pick up 20 more access points in the city and connect to a network a few blocks away! This is BY-FAR the most simple of all Wifi extensions!"
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Norway's Liberal Party Wants Legal File Sharing
The party wants to legalize sharing of any copyrighted material for non-commercial use. It also proposes a ban on DRM technology, free sampling of other artists' material, and shortening the life span of copyright. The Liberal Party is the first Norwegian political party, and the first European mainstream political party, to advocate file sharing.
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Thursday, April 12, 2007
Petition to Save PilotWings on the Wii
Nintendo is not currently working on a PilotWings installment for the Wii. Some console gamers are trying to show their support for the title in hopes of changing that and have organized an online petition.
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Second Life Bans Virtual Gambling
Second Life will no longer "accept any classified ads, place listings, or event listings that appear to relate to simulated casino activity."
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An Amazing Conference on Energy
Last week I had the great good fortune to attend a three day energy conference attended by some of the world’s greatest energy experts. The Foundation invited 15 of the foremost physicists and energy experts in the world to come together for three days of presentations and discussions on the future of energy. and 15 more as observers.
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Today's Friday the 13th!
Today, Friday the 13th, is considered the unluckiest of days in many superstitions, unless you were born on it - in which case it is your lucky day!The fear of Friday the 13th - and take a deep breath before pronouncing it - is called paraskavedekatriaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia.
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would you eat pickled dinosaur feet? maybe you have...(in a way)
68 million year old t-rex bones contained soft tissue that have yielded the oldest-ever preserved proteins! analysis of the proteins showed an evolutionary link between t-rex and chickens. this helps strengthen the theory that dinosaurs are the ancestors of birds. (check out their feet, right?)
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What is a McMansion?
McMansion (muhk.MAN.shun) n. A large, opulent house, especially a new house that has a size and style that doesn’t fit in with the surrounding houses. Here are a few pics I took yesterday. These homes which are located in the Sherman Oaks, sit right next to each other.
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Flavoured Meth Use On The Rise
Reports of candy-flavored methamphetamine are emerging around the nation. "As methamphetamine's popularity has waned, drug dealers have to create new ways to market it."
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A Hollow Army - How the Bush Regime Broke America's Military
Richard Blair: Four years and one surge into the occupation of Iraq, the Bush regime has broken America's standing Army...
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the Air Force Has Airlifted 40,902 Patients From Combat Zones In Iraq
Air Force C-17 Globemasters fly regular missions from Iraq and Afghanistan to Ramstein Air Base, Germany, where patients are driven a short distance to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. In high-priority cases, the C-17s will fly nonstop to bases in the U.S.
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Windows is Dead - Long live the new King.
The world as we know it is coming to an end,Windows is (finally) losting it's primogeniture, Unix based systems are slowly but surely gaining power and grabbing chunks of the market, it's time to really understand why Unix is the natural choice.
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Is Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka's "gyroball" Really a Unhittable Pitch
Do you go with the flow or against it? Well, how about going sideways--sideways to the flow? Apparently, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Boston's newly acquired very-hard-throwing Japanese phenom(-enon), is so strong and flexible that he can throw a baseball with an unusual spin that creates a unique changeup/screwball hybrid pitch which
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Linux Marketing Campaign Seeks $350k in 40 Days
LXer editor dcparris gives an introduction to the Tux500 Project.This project aims to raise enough funds in 40 days to sponsor an Indy 500 car in the name of Linux.
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Profile of the Duke Rape Accuser - Crystal Gail Mangum
Some of the details of the Duke University rape case may never be solved, but one thing is startlingly clear: Crystal Gail Mangum, the woman who accused three college lacrosse players of locking her in a bathroom and raping her, has had a very troubled life. -- Duke sucks.
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Drew Bledsoe retires, ends 14-year career
Drew Bledsoe retired Wednesday, ending a 15-year career in which he made two Super Bowls.
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3 Steps to Finding the Nerve to Quit a Job You Hate
All you know is that the bills are constant and doing your own thing won't pay the bills. It's too expensive to start a business, you have no clients and the paycheck you get, at least, is steady. This is as far as most get when they sit at a desk, silently wasting away because they're so miserable. So how do you find the nerve to quit?
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Peak Oil and Senegal
For whom is peak oil the most critical, the developed world of America, Europe and similar or the developing world of sub-Saharan Africa? Clearly the West’s oil consumption, both absolute and per capita is far greater than Africa’s but how will peak oil affect oil availability in the two areas and what will the impact be?
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Software Pricing and Piracy
A group of Harvard Business School (HBS) professors have recently published a research which suggests that Microsoft benefits from piracy in its fight against Linux. While it sounds crazy, it may have major implications for software firms. If you are a new software firm challenging an established leader, you need to think hard about your pricing.
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Make Money By Google Adwords
Dear Friend,Let me ask you one quick question: Are you fed up yet? Ebooks. Private Label Rights. AdSense. Blogging. HTML. Articles. List Building. The list of “gotta haves for success” in the internet marketing world seems to go on and on. Every day, you get a barrage of emails from people hawking yet another life-changing product launch or
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IVA's and bankruptcy are not easy debt solutions
Individual Voluntary Agreements (IVA) and bankruptcy may seem an easy option when debt problems grow out of control, however there are serious long term issues with these options, as this article explains.
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What is your intention for the holidays?
I grew up in Miami and every December my husband Steve and I go to Miami to visit my parents for a few days. My parents are big "foodies." They love good food and love treating us to nice meals out when we're with them.
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Bay Area Sales down 20%, agents hurting...
A cautious approach to investing in a home in a good school district like Cupertino---where median home prices may temporarily be going up... Good article with median house prices and sales figures for Santa Clara county - both data and analysis provided....
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10 Shopping Tricks That Stores Hate
Stores are always trying to get you to do what they want. But what if you refuse? What if you do what benefits you and not the store? Aside from outright fraud, what are the things that you can do to come out ahead? We've put together 10 tips that will help you save money, but probably won't help the store. That's why they hate them. And you.
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$11 Million salary, 36% raise and 10,000 fired employees.
Digg this if you think it is wrong to make $11 million, and get a 36% raise, when you just fired 10,000 employees.
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Nearly 75% of People Say $4 Gas Would Alter Their Summer Travel Plans
According to a recent poll, 74% of people stated that if gas prices were to hit $4 per gallon this summer that they would be forced to alter their vacation plans. This scenario would be catastrophic to the many vacation hot spots that rely on the revenue generated from June through August to sustain them for the remainder of the year.
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Big Rocks First: Double Your Productivity This Week
Fill your week with your most important goals, tasks and dreams. Great article on how to focus on what's important and get the big things done.
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Poll: 60% of Americans await recession
Most say a recession in the next year is somewhat or very likely; more than a third view their own finances as 'shaky,' newspaper reports. The poll of 1,373 adults conducted for the Los Angeles Times and financial news wire Bloomberg found that 60 percent of those surveyed said recession was somewhat or very likely within the next year,
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Have less than $25K in savings? Get in line
A new survey finds you're in good company with colleagues of all ages when it comes to saving for retirement.
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Comcast Easily Tricked Into Giving Your Personal Info To Wiseass Teenagers
Here's a clip showing how someone armed with only a phone number and address can social engineer your personal information out of Comcast. Guess that's what happens when you outsource all your customer service to facilities with incompetent and poorly trained employees.
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Home prices set for first drop in 40 years
Real estate group sees 0.7% decline in 2007, first annual drop since it began keeping track.
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United Arab Emirates May Order 100 Airbus A350s
"Airbus may secure a 100-plane order valued at $24 billion at list prices for its newest twin-aisle model from Emirates after developing a wider body and more efficient wing, the Middle Eastern airline said. Persian Gulf carriers are among the top customers for Airbus and Boeing as they build their region into a hub for tourism and transit flights.
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White House lost FIVE MILLION e-mails, CREW reveals
The Bush White House, in clear violation of federal law and White House rules, somehow "lost" 5 million emails concerning official White House business. How? Because they used the Republican National Committee's email system, covertly, rather than use the White House system which would have kept a permanent record of the emails, as required by law
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Bush's Sudan Ambassador: There Is No Genocide in Darfur (Video)
In an extremely heated exchange with Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing yesterday, President Bush's ambassador to Sudan Adrew Natsios defiantly refused to characterize the violence there as genocide.
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Diabetics cured by stem-cell treatment
In a breakthrough trial, 15 young patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes were given drugs to suppress their immune systems followed by transfusions of stem cells drawn from their own blood.
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How to Survive a Back-Alley Knife Fight
You are coming home from the bar at two o’clock in the morning. You’re dumb enough to take that shortcut, and boom: you are stuck in a back-alley. a shadowy figure is approaching you, and the demonic glint in his eye matches the streetlight reflection off his blade. How will you survive? You enter ATTACK MODE, that's how.
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Dark Chocolate is Good For You: Lowers Blood Pressure
"Based on our analysis, regular consumption of polyphenol-rich cocoa products like dark chocolate may be considered a part of a blood pressure-lowering diet, provided there is no total gain in calorie intake,"
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Stem Cell Bill Approved by Senate
A stubborn Senate voted Wednesday to ease restrictions on federally funded embryonic stem cell research, ignoring President Bush's threat of a second veto on legislation designed to lead to new medical treatments.
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Senator accuses Aides of lying about White House-Justice e-mails
"They say they have not been preserved. I don't believe that!" Leahy shouted from the Senate floor."You can't erase e-mails, not today. They've gone through too many servers," said Leahy, D-Vermont "Those e-mails are there, they just don't want to produce them. We'll subpoena them if necessary."
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For doctors it's getting easier to say "I'm Sorry,"
Rhode Island and eight other states are now considering bills that would allow physicians to apologize when things go wrong without having to fear that their words will be used against them in court. At least 27 other states have already passed similar laws according to the AMA. Lawyers are calling Rhode Island's bill unfair.
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25 Code Snippets For Web Designers
"Part 3 of our code snippets series takes a look at more handy pieces of html, ajax and css that you can incorporate into your web designs."
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Judges: online comments by minors protected under Constitution
An Indiana Court of Appeals ruled this week in favor of a teenager who made vulgar comments on MySpace, saying that the state violated her right to free speech when they sentenced her to probation.
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John McCain Gives Speech Nearly Identical To Bush's 25 Hrs Earlier
McCain was reading the words off a teleprompter in the back of the room, but it was hard not to notice how closely they matched a statement made just 25 hours earlier by President Bush. "We're beginning to see some progress towards our mission," Bush had declared to American Legion Post 177 in Fairfax.
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Urban Art Big Illusion
Random yellow paint or is there something else going on on a much much larger scale? You know you want to find out.
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Scarlett Johansson Has The World’s Sexiest Body (again)
Scarlett Johansson has topped yet another poll. This time it’s Glamour magazine’s “Sexiest Body In The World." I'm not so sure I agree...I mean, c'mon...alba? Biel? But Johansson is pretty smoking, so bravo, little miss. Bravo.
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Tuesday, April 10, 2007
The Gutting Of The Justice Department
If the scandal over the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys came upon the nation like a bolt of lightning, the concerted effort by the White House to undermine the professional class of lawyers at the Justice Department has been rumbling like thunder for years.
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The unresolved story of ABC News's false Saddam-anthrax reports
ABC News and Brian Ross have not corrected their false reports from October and November 2001 regarding alleged Iraq involvement in the anthrax scare in the U.S.
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150 Graduates of Pat Robertson's school - Employed at White House
Yes, the same Pat Robertson who blamed gays, pro-choicers, and liberals for 9/11. Seperation of church and what?
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How the media failed the American people
The real media failing was not in any one area; it was across the board. Lies and distortions went unchallenged, or were actively promoted. Fundamental and problematic assumptions about terrorism and the "war on terror" were rarely debated or even discussed. Vital historical context was almost never provided. Good reporting was also absent.
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Ten Things Your Restaurant Will Not Tell You
Next time you decide to go out to eat, keep in mind these ten restaurant secrets. You may be better off eating at home.
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Where Company Names Come From
Adidas, Adobe, Amazon, Apache, Apple, Canon, eBay, IKEA, Kodak, LEGO, Nokia, Oracle, Six Apart, Starbucks, Virgin, Volvo, etc. "Notice that you don’t see too many origins like 'Developed during brainstorming session with $100k naming consultant.'”
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Where Company Names Come From
Adidas, Adobe, Amazon, Apache, Apple, Canon, eBay, IKEA, Kodak, LEGO, Nokia, Oracle, Six Apart, Starbucks, Virgin, Volvo, etc. "Notice that you don’t see too many origins like 'Developed during brainstorming session with $100k naming consultant.'”
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How to Complain and Win at It
Great tips from the senior editor at the Wall Street Journal about how to complain to a company and WIN. Whatever your gripe, Bounds said, you have to make a decision to make some noise if you want things to change. She gives tips on how to win against airlines, cellphone & credit card companies.
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Comcast Cuts Off Bandwidth Hogs
Customers across the country have been contacted by the telecom giant with a warning to curb excessive bandwidth consumption or risk a one-year service termination. Comcast, however, is refusing to reveal how much bandwidth use is allowed, making it impossible for customers to know if they are in danger of violating Comcast's limit.
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Ford CEO Mulally Gets $28 Million for 4 months work
Ford CEO Alan Mulally gets paid $28 million even though Ford posts a $12.7 billion loss. Wouldn't you like to get paid to suck at your job?
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World Bank Staff “Outraged” Over Wolfowitz’ Girlfriend’s Raises
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz’ girlfriend, also a Bank staffer, received salary raises far in excess of what Bank rules and protocol stipulate has caused an uproar among Bank staff employees, as evidenced by an internal Bank email from the World Bank Staff Association.
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Ouch! Judge Rules Vonage Can't Sign Up Any New Customers
A judge has effectively barred Internet phone carrier Vonage from signing up new customers as punishment for infringing on patents held by Verizon, though the company will be allowed to continue servicing existing customers. Vonage is planning to appeal.
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BusinessWeek Says Digg Comments are "Surprisingly Civil"
Writer says Digg comment threads are "surpisingly civil" -- says other sites are a lot worse. "How to filter conversation has become a topic of intense discussion in its own right. As more and more Web surfers become familiar with message boards and comfortable firing off opinions, often anonymously, online sites are struggling to manage comments"
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The RIAA And MPAA Need To Lie
"The RIAA and MPAA are telling California legislators that lies and deceit are an integral part of their anti-piracy strategy. The importance of lying, masterfully demonstrated by Jim Carrey in his 1997 hit "Liar Liar," is at issue as California legislators mull a measure that would ban pretexting. Otherwise known as lying, pretexting involves..."
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Drug-resistant Influenza B emerges in Japan
A new report describes a mutating Influenza B virus in Japan, and Tamiflu comes under fire for being linked to teenage suicides.
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Grand Canyon Skywalk is a ripoff
Anyone who is planning a trip to experience the Grand Canyon Skywalk should read this: "The view and feeling of hovering were amazing. It really was the closest I've ever come to experiencing flight...Unfortunately, the experience had already been soured by the feeling of being taken advantage of and lied to."
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Dieting does not work, researchers report
Will you lose weight and keep it off if you diet? No, probably not, UCLA researchers report in the April issue of American Psychologist, the journal of the American Psychological Association. Good. Now I can go back to my Chee-tos and Red Bull guilt-free.
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Criteria for Depression Are Too Broad, Researchers Say
Up to 25% of people in whom psychiatrists would currently diagnose depression may only be reacting normally to stressful events. The finding could have far-reaching consequences for diagnosis of depression, the growing use of symptom checklists to identify those who may be depressed, and $12 billion-a-year U.S. market for antidepressant drugs.
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Drug-resistant Influenza B emerges in Japan
A new report describes a mutating Influenza B virus in Japan, and Tamiflu comes under fire for being linked to teenage suicides.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Drug-resistant Influenza B emerges in Japan
A new report describes a mutating Influenza B virus in Japan, and Tamiflu comes under fire for being linked to teenage suicides.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Drug-resistant Influenza B emerges in Japan
A new report describes a mutating Influenza B virus in Japan, and Tamiflu comes under fire for being linked to teenage suicides.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
PICTURES : French 'safe sex' posters. Awesome but really, really creepy
This is a recent promotion in France which uses really creepy but very well done photoshop pics that show the dangers of unprotected sex and contrcting AIDS. These are great. Enjoy !
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Man jailed after passing on HIV
A man who "refused" to wear a condom while aware that he had HIV - and passed that to a woman partner has been jailed for nine years.
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How Fat is Your Country?
I am surprised by some of the ones at the top, but not the one at the very.In your comment, tell what your country's ranking is.
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Heavy Marijuana Use Doesn't Damage Brain
"Long-term and even daily marijuana use doesn't appear to cause permanent brain damage, adding to evidence that it can be a safe and effective treatment for a wide range of diseases, say researchers."
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Jack in the Box - Disturbing unknown object in Fajita Pita [Photo]
I just spent some time chewing on this. I have no idea what it is. I don't know if I want to know what it is. I do want to make sure that no one else eats one though.
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Is it dangerous to inhale your father's cremated remains?
Earlier this week, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones announced that he once snorted a mixture of his father's ashes and cocaine. Richards and his publicist later claimed that he was just kidding. But if he did snort his dad, would that have been unhealthy? Only if he made a habit of it, experts say.
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Russian alcohol consumption triples since 1990
"Russia's average annual alcohol consumption has reached 15 litres (26 pints) per person, nearly tripling the 1990 average of 5.4 liters, the country's consumer protection agency said Monday."
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Russian alcohol consumption triples since 1990
"Russia's average annual alcohol consumption has reached 15 litres (26 pints) per person, nearly tripling the 1990 average of 5.4 liters, the country's consumer protection agency said Monday."
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Smoking and caffeine appear to protect against Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that involves the loss of a specific group of neurons in the substantia nigra that produce dopamine. Sufferers experience a range of symptoms, including a tremor, other motor problems, depression, and cognitive disturbance. The disease itself is not fatal, but involves severe reduction in ...
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The Federal Reserve Monopoly over Money
Few Americans give much thought to the Federal Reserve System or monetary policy in general. But even as they strive to earn a living, and hopefully save or invest for the future, Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank are working insidiously against them. Day by day, every dollar you have is being devalued.
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Swiftfox - Perversion of Open Source?
Swiftfox is a build of Firefox with some tweaks...and some restrictions. You can't distribute Swiftfox freely, due to its altered license, and it is binary-only. The developer says this is for security - to prevent people from tampering with the code.
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PMP does WiFi, orders music, runs Linux
Flash memory and consumer device specialist SanDisk is shipping the first portable multimedia player (PMP) able to download music directly via WiFi, without the use of a PC. The "Sansa Connect," which runs embedded Linux and Mono, connects directly to online music services via WiFi, according to sources.
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Do you really need to upgrade your Apple TV’s hard drive?
If you take a close look at your Apple TV's video and network capabilities, you may just find that you don't need to get a bigger hard drive for your Apple TV after all.
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AOL dispute forces GAIM to become "Pidgin"
GAIM 2.0 is finally coming out, but thanks to an AOL lawsuit, it's going to be called "Pidgin." Here's why.
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Six-pound copter-like UAV runs Debian Linux
Trek Aerospace used Debian Linux and open-source flight control software to build an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL). The Oviwun weighs about six pounds, fits in a backpack, and includes a GPS system that enables autonomous flight and position control.
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A better, faster desktop search for Linux!
Beagle desktop search, while useful, tends to consume way to much system resources, which leaves out Linux users that care about high performance or have older machines. Tracker is a high performance search engine written in C, uses only 3-9 megs of ram and is very Laptop-friendly. Features nautilus and deskbar support for seamless integration.
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Man deletes /usr, blames Apple for his mistake!
I like OS X as much as the next guy, but man do we Apple users deserve some of the flak we get. With articles like this one floating around then it's no wonder Mac users have a poor reputation with some folks. The guy deleted /usr, and then blamed it on Apple! He states: "You can still cripple a Macintosh computer." ... No?! Surely you jest...
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Do Duplicate Submissions Help or Hurt Digg?
How many times has this happened to you: You're cruising through the web at work or at home and you find an incredible story/blogpost. This story is great! You want to share it with everyone so you go to Digg it, but someone has already submitted it with a crappy title and description....
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Stock Market Continue To Crawl Ahead of FOMC
US Markets (mastersoequity.com) -- It is incredible to see so many analysts and news reports screaming 8 days of continuous gain in the Dow at the top of their voices when the last 2 days have been merely sideways days. In fact, the last 2 trading days have been as good as extensions of the Good Friday long weekend. The truth is, the "8" days of ga
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SmilingPet.com Discount pet supplies store
Discount pet supplies and pet products for dogs, cats, birds, fish, horses, reptiles and small pets.
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put your own picture or any picture on your credit card!!!
The new One of a CardSM Visa® is the world's most original credit card. That's because you can customize it with your favorite photo. Maybe you'll choose a picture of your pet, or your child's artwork. The options are endless, simply scan or take a digital picture to design your Visa® Card.It lets you show your personality whenever you shop.
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Obama On Joint Hillary Ticket: “Which Order Are We Talking About?”
Senator Obama was on "Late Show with David Letterman" last night to talk Iraq, family, his attempt to quit smoking cigarettes and the 2008 campaign. Although not as fiery as Letterman's showdowns with O'Reilly, it was still entertaining.
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VIDEO: Uwe Boll recreates 9/11 plane crash to advertise his Postal movie
Dressing people up as Bin Laden and telling viewers to see his movie wasn't enough. Nor did he stop at Columbine reenactment video or uncut orgy scenes. And now, we get to see a World Trade Center window washer doing his job with a plane crashing into the building from behind him. Expect America news stations to freak out when they see this footage
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Zune 2.0 details LEAKED !
A MS employee has leaked various details such as: Zune 2.0 and Flash Zune will be out THIS YEAR, Zune 2.0 is like Gen1 though thinner and a large HDD, Flash Zune is video compatible, it's screen covers 75% of it, and will have WiFi, etc.
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A Firefox Bankcard! How cool is that?
My bank offered the possibility to use my own image on my bankcard. You could order it through a web interface, so I uploaded the Firefox logo onto mine and picked up the card a few days later from the bank. See the result...
Splinter Cell Double Agent - Xbox 360/Playstation 3 Comparison Shots
The key difference between the two platforms seems to be in the lighting, amazing how much of a difference a little bit of dynamic lighting will affect the visual quality of a game.
Facebook named 'Hottest' of the hottest startups
commenters are nominating the hottest startups of Silicon Valley. We totted up the mentions on both threads. Facebook, the college social network, scores highest; with Admob, the mobile ad network, following up.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Atheism, Religion, Hate, Racism & R. Kelly
Rundown of recent stories on the topics of atheism, religion, hate and an update on the R. Kelly case for good measure.
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White men have to respect black women, but black men don't.
What bothers me about Sharpton and other leaders saying Imus should lose his job for being disrespectful to black women is that they don't say the same about the entertainment industry where black women are portrayed in much more disrespectful ways than anything Imus said.
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Is the World Ready for a Journalism Unconference?
We've come close with conferences like "We Media" where the likes of blogging and social media are the center of discussion. But perhaps it is time for media makers to have an unconference. Similar to Barcamp, but focused on the act of reporting -- citizen journalism can step into its own and invite the MSM to meet face-to-face on their own turf.
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Tower Bridge “Salutes” Slavery Ship
London’s iconic Tower Bridge “saluted” the arrival of the replica slavery ship, The Zong today. Typically, when a ship passes through Tower Bridge, the roadways are lifted to about 60 degrees, but today - they were lifted to the full 83 degrees, which is generally reserved for special occasions.
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A Chilling Photograph's Hidden History
Twenty-six years ago, a picture of an execution in Iran won the Pulitzer Prize. But the man who took it remained anonymous - until now.
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Blogger Code of Conduct: the tyranny of good intentions
A draft version of Tim O'Reilly's code of conduct for the blogosphere encourages bloggers to censor posts in the name of creating civility online.
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Azureus gives Zudeo HD video service a new moniker: Vuze
The new HD BitTorrent service from Azureus moves from one odd name to another. Vuze has plenty of quality content partners now, but despite the name change, it's still in beta.
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Azureus gives Zudeo HD video service a new moniker: Vuze
The new HD BitTorrent service from Azureus moves from one odd name to another. Vuze has plenty of quality content partners now, but despite the name change, it's still in beta.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Yahoo! and SanDisk roll out hopeful iPod competitor
SanDisk has partnered up with Yahoo! and tech startup Zing to jointly market the Sansa Connect digital music player, which they hope will provide the perfect combination of features to lure users away from the iPod.
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Oops! Yahoo Japan erases 4.5 million e-mails
"Yahoo Japan accidentally erased nearly 4.5 million e-mails after the system incorrectly labeled them as spam messages, according to a report by the Kyodo news agency that was picked up by United Press International. "
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Nintendo: Customer service gone shockingly right
"Well then, let's not bother with the RMA and the shipping labels and all of that. Just bring it on in to Nintendo," she said.
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Top 20 Stupid Celebrity Quotes
Nuggets like: "What's Wal-Mart? Do they sell, like wall stuff?" - Paris Hilton
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The right way to learn more about fitness and nutrition
In a world full of imperfect people who are trying to look like cover-models, I think we tend to have tunnel-vision and don’t pay enough attention to the bigger picture.
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Praying for the Apocalypse
The author of “American Fascists” explores the Christian right’s obsession with Armageddon and the self-fulfilling holocaust it will produce.
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MacGyver Tip: Clean your keyboard with tape
Leftovers from your morning muffin stuck between your keys and no compressed air in sight? Grab a roll of tape, says Real Simple magazine: Same concept as removing lint with a Fedex airbill pouch (or regular old Scotch tape.)
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Quicktime Embed Tag Attributes
A nice little tutorial showing you the different things you can do with the embed tag.
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Apple tv perl plugin
"somebody we know around here was busy over the weekend and has hacked up a more user extensible plugin for the Apple TV that lets you run a perl script from the Apple TV interface."
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The Real Wedding Crashers
Monday, April 9, 2007—In the wake of Ashton Kutcher’s Punk’d cancellation and the announcement of several new reality TV series (à la Bernie Mac and Friends’ co-creator Marta Kauffmann) in the works comes a new hidden-camera, comedic reality show produced by Kutcher himself: The Real Wedding Crashers.
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Robocop technology coming to an army near you
The Stormtroopers may become a reality if this is the future of military armament. I wonder how it will be powered, that will still be the weak point in the armour. We may have seen it all before in science-fiction films. But the bionic warrior is in fact a vision of real-life warfare in the 21st century.
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Orwell update
That an administration headed by two men who had "had other priorities" than to risk their own lives when their turn to fight for their country came up, should brand as a threat to the United States a person who did not run away but stood up and fought for his country and was wounded in battle, goes beyond the outrageous.
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Free Proxy, Anonymous Proxy, Unblock Sites, Web Proxy, MySpace Proxy
aBrowse.com offers a free services to users who are trying to browse the web anonymously or are unable to access certain websites from school or work. aBrowse.com allows users to access blocked sites from school or work.
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Rusty Gets a Fatwa, Death Threat
I know dozens and dozens of Muslims who faithfully practice their religion and would agree with nearly 100% of my political agenda. Are these Muslims also 'Islamophobes'?...
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Joshua Wolf caves in!
It's about time. Everyone should be required to testify about what they see or know about a crime. Our court system would fall apart without it.
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PICTURES: Mammatus, Lenticular & Other Extreme Clouds
"Mammatus Clouds, or "breast-clouds", are fascinating formations in the sky, made mostly from the cumulus cloud base. Although they are not a sure sign that a tornado is about to form, they often accompany tornado-producing storms, or even may be direct byproduct of tornado activity..."
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EARTH NEEDS MEN: Male births declining
University of Pittsburgh-led study found significantly fewer boys being born relative to girls in the U.S. and Japan, and that an increasing proportion of fetuses that die are male. They note that the decline in births is equivalent to 135,000 fewer white males in the U.S....
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Photo: Will Make You Think Twice Before Sleeping in a Forest in Angola
"The photos below are from the Exxon/Mobile compound in Luanda - Angola, Africa. You will notice from the insulators in the first photo this is an electrified fence. I do not think you will wonder why they need an electric fence. For all you people whotravel to Angola."
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Solar Panels for a 10th of the Cost
Solar cell technology developed by the Massey University’s Nanomaterials Research Centre will enable us to generate electricity from sunlight at a 10th of the cost of current silicon-based photo-electric solar cells.
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Do you smoke? Your next child's likely to be a girl
A study in Britain suggests that parents who are smokers at the time of conception are more likely to have a female child. The study also found that women who were exposed to secondhand smoke during pregnancy were also less likely to give birth to male infants.
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2 out of every 3 Indian children are physically abused
Two out of every three children in India are physically abused, according to a landmark government study. Commissioned by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the study says 53% of the surveyed children reported one or more forms of sexual abuse.
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Record Industry Dying? Sales Down 20%
First things first: Overall album sales for the January 1-April 2 period are down 16.6% to 117.1 million units, led -- or perhaps misled -- by a 20.5% decline in CD album sales.
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Gears of War update coming TODAY!
The long-awaited update to Gears of War which adds the new King of the Hill style gametype named Annex will be released later today. Exact timing is not known, but Major Nelson has detailed all of the changes that will be made.
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Cool Zippo trick; steal away the flame and throw it back to the lighter...
This is a great trick that i have seen at bars before. It really impresses the ladies...
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A Boy Rides His Pet Anaconda!
Some snake shows up at their doorstep and they keep it as a pet. Now it's 20 feet long and the children ride it around the house... Check out that ending. Wow, that looks like fun!!
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Alpha Geek: Useful Windows Vista Sidebar gadgets
Windows Vista's Sidebar gets no respect - and that's a shame. With the right gadgets, the Sidebar can help you get things done, especially if you have enough screen estate to keep it running in the foreground (like on a widescreen monitor). Let's take a look at the cream of the crop.
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Billy Hoffman interview on Jikto in 90 minute video podcast Shmoocon specia
In this special episode of Hak5 the crew heads to Washington DC for ShmooCon, the only annual security conference with complementary foam balls. Featuring Bruce Potter, one of the conferences organizers, with all things about the con. Billy Hoffman on Jikto and more, Cachedump with Eoin Miller and Adair Collins, Ken Caruso with the NOC...
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YouTube Video Ripper
A script that will download all the videos uploaded by a specific YouTube user where the title matches a pattern (regexp compatible). The final output is flash videos named after the unique video ID.
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Steampunk R2D2
A fully functional, remote-controlled R2D2, powered by an internal steam boiler. Just beautiful!
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Microsoft: Beware of bogus Service Pack and hotfix sites
With Vista freshly launched and company executives on record as saying that Vista is "high quality right out of the gate", Microsoft appears less than thrilled with web site owner Ethan Allen's decision to distribute Vista's hotfixes and patches, rolling them into what he calls an SP1 Preview.
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IceWM — A Desktop For Windows Emigrants
You're probably wondering what is so special about this window manager: IceWM is very comfortable, stable, lightweight and uses a taskbar similar to the one in MS Windows making it the perfect choice for Windows’s “emigrants". Here's an entire guide for the installation, configuration and customization of this wonderful window manager.
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Asus C90 The First User-Upgradeable Laptop
Because of the way laptops are built, most people don't upgrade their notebooks like they do their desktop. Well, Asus is trying to change that with their new C90 gaming laptop. Everything from the lappie's CPU to its high-def optical drive will be user upgradeable. Asus says you'll even be able to replace the graphics card in a efw minutes.
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Canada Worse than 3rd World Countries when it comes to Mobile Data Access
Shocking comparison of how bad wireless data rates are in Canada compared to other countries like the US, Australia, New Zealand, Rawanda...
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EFF lawyer warns of e-learning patent dangers
An EFF laywer calls for e-learning company Blackboard to provide official royalty-free patent licenses to open-source software developers and compares the company to a "schoolyard bully."
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A Green Hummer? (It Runs On Biofuels And Gets 40 MPG)
onathan Goodwin, has retrofitted a Hummer to run on ethanol, hydrogen, biodiesel or natural gas. The car gets about 40 miles per gallon.
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AP article on 2008 candidates' military experience (where's Ron Paul?)
An article from Yahoo that talks about the lack of military experience among 2008 Presidential candidates. This article says that only John McCain "has been to war and served in uniform."Nowhere in the article does it mention the fact that Texas Congressman Dr. Ron Paul served from 1963 to 1968 as a flight surgeon in the USAF.
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