Friday, November 12, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Happy Veterans' Day
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Thank you, Chris, and all of you who serve or have served our country in combat. It takes a brave soul, and all of you are to be commended!
The World's Newest Natural Wonders
The Northern Lights Source
Each year, the United Nations unveils a list of the world's most stunning natural attractions, called World Heritage sites, and chances are, you've never heard of them—Papahanaumokuakea, anyone? The designation shines the spotlight on a handful of hidden gems, while also protecting them from man.
Over the past 28 years, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has identified more than 180 of these natural wonders across 77 countries. These "World Heritage Sites" are deemed "unique, irreplaceable, and authentic." The esteemed club includes the likes of the Grand Canyon, Mount Everest, and Victoria Falls among other iconic sites. (Manmade landmarks, such as Rome's Colosseum, are counted separately.)
This summer, the UN agency added some particularly picturesque landscapes to its list.
China - China Danxia
The region known as China Danxia spans six subtropical areas approximately 310 miles southwest of Xi'an, home of the terra-cotta warriors. Red sandstone pillars, ravines, and other fantastical shapes recall Mars more than they do southwestern China.Hawaii - Papahanaumokuakea
Preposterously clear lagoons and extensive coral reefs protect rare marine life around this set of tiny islands and atolls in northwestern Hawaii (reachable only by chartered plane). Ghost alert! As native tradition has it, spirits return to this area after death.Russia - Putoransky State Nature Reserve
This nature reserve is situated more than 62 miles north of the Arctic Circle in northern Central Siberia, and is a vital migration route for reindeer crossing its tundra and rivers. the Putoransky State Nature Reserve is technically a desert because it rains and snows so little here, though snowfall does tend to linger owing to the icy temperatures.Continue to the rest of the list..
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Feds Propose Graphic Cigarette Warning Labels
Source
Corpses, cancer patients and diseased lungs are among the images the federal government plans for larger, graphic warning labels that would take up half of each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States.
Whether smokers addicted to nicotine will see them as a reason to quit remains a question.
The images are part of a new campaign announced by the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday to reduce tobacco use, which is responsible for about 443,000 deaths per year.
"Some very explicit, almost gruesome pictures may be necessary," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in an interview with The Associated Press. "This is a very, very serious public health issue, with very, very serious medical consequences," such as cancer, heart disease, strokes and lung diseases.
The share of Americans who smoke has fallen dramatically since 1970, from nearly 40 percent to about 20 percent, but the rate has stalled since about 2004. About 46 million adults in the U.S. smoke cigarettes.In the same period, the average cost per pack has gone from 38 cents to $5.33. Much of those increases are from state and federal taxes.
The new prevention plan is part of a law passed in June 2009 that gave the FDA authority to regulate tobacco, including setting guidelines for marketing and labeling, banning certain products and limiting nicotine. The law doesn't let the FDA ban nicotine or tobacco.
The FDA is proposing 36 labels for public comment. They include phrases like "Smoking can kill you" and "Cigarettes cause cancer" and feature graphic images to convey the dangers of tobacco.
"It acts as a very public billboard because you all of the sudden are reading something about lung cancer from that pack behind the cash register, whereas before you were just reading 'Marlboro,'" said David Hammond, a health behavior researcher at the University of Waterloo in Canada, who is working with the firm designing the labels for the FDA.
Some of the labels include a man with a tracheotomy smoking a cigarette, a cartoon of a mother blowing smoke in her baby's face, rotting and diseased teeth and gums, as well as cigarettes being flushed down the toilet to signify quitting.
Continue to the rest of the article..
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Problems Solved
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Well, I ran into this blog post, when checking out the High Definite a little bit ago..
So you should probably go read the article, but its summary is that the Cowboys' domain name and main website had to be re-purchased after a matter of hours.
Somehow this is supposed to be somewhere near as relevant as the loss of Tony Romo, and the changing of coaches mid-season.
That website nor its domain is nothing compared to the devastating effects concerning the franchise QB, and it's head coach is concerned.
Who the next big-name head coach is is not significant either, really. One of the big boys will be hired right after week-17 - unless, and only unless, Jason Garrett does something spectacular. But that's doubtful.
They'll show signs, they'll win a few games. Romo will come back and play. Stephen McGee will make a big name for himself. Marion Barber will likely not be a Cowboy after this season.
Next year might not be spectacular, but it could be. I'll stay tuned.
Monday, November 8, 2010
More Cowbell Junkhead
OK - I've made many a post about Junkhead, but this might be the forth, and I think they're all different. There is a point. It's one of my favorites now for a while.. and has probably moved into my top-10 all-time.
I almost always post the original. This time I give you the same remarkable performance, but 15 years later. And yes it's without Layne Staley. But the song remains the same. They all did a super job here.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Ouch..
Image Source
Media: "Jerry, how do you put your finger on exactly what's wrong..?"
Jerry Jones: "It's not.. uhm, I can't put my finger on it, because well, I don't have enough fingers."
If Wade Phillips is not fired tomorrow morning, I'm gonna be upset. Do it! Change it up, and make the change now!
The Top-5 Groceries You Buy and Then Throw Away
Image Source
Yeah that's moldy bread, and it is on the list. I thought it would be #1, but it's not.
We go into the grocery store with the best of intentions, usually... I mean, assuming we're not violating the cardinal rule, "Never grocery shop while hungry." We try to plan out our meals to some degree, and think of all kinds of great things we can cook with various ingredients.
But outside the grocery store, life is different. You get busy, you get exhausted, you don't feel like making the intricate meals that seemed worth the time in your head. Or you get depressed and instead of something fresh, you reach for the comfort of microwave pizza or nachos or what have you. While you're breaking all these self-imposed promises, the stuff you bought is growing mold colonies that look a lot like your standard Sim City layouts. Here's the foods that have been left to decay in our refrigerators most often:
5. Vegetables
It's after the holidays. You're fat as hell. Your clothes are tight, and you feel like you're starting to have trouble catching your breath. It's time to lose weight. In accordance with your New Year's resolution (the same one you make every year), you spent the last grocery trip buying tons of healthy meal options, including way too many vegetables. So you take them all home and put them in your crisper drawer, and there approximately 80 percent of them will remain until they've sprouted vines and walked away. Oh, you'll probably eat a serving or two of salad, or at least put some of it on a sandwich. The first couple of nights, you'll snack on the carrots and celery - with low-fat dressing, even - and try to be good.But then you'll remember the reason you never eat this crap in the first place: It's wholly unsatisfying. By the time you've eaten enough vegetables to feel full, you've got gas problems that scare your family and pets. You have to worry about whatever pesticides they're soaked in, and if you buy organic veggies, then you have to worry about them rotting twice as fast. We don't know how vegetarians do it. Veggies will never, ever beat chips or meat or pasta, and most of us are only able to lie to ourselves that they do for so long.
3. Milk
Milk doesn't get much of a chance to go bad at our house, because we personally go through a lot of it. It's our favorite thing to drink with meals, the one childish habit we never really outgrew (that, and our love of Silly Putty). Nearly every other house we've set foot in, however, has always held a trap for us in the form of a carton of milk curdling on the top shelf of the refrigerator. Spending the night at friends' places, we learned pretty quickly to thoroughly check the appearance and scent of their milk before giving it a passing grade. People just don't use milk for much. People put it in their coffee and on their cereal, but that's pretty much it. Very few people drink it by the pint like we do, and it goes bad quickly. Continue to the complete list..
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What Is There To See Here?
Via - (NSFW)
I know it's bad, but hey, I didn't take the pic, nor write the caption. But I did laugh!