Bill's Box

Swine Flu Deaths Compared To Other Causes

eliminat — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:50:22 +0000

Click for Full Size

Swine flu is such a bogus threat by comparison to anything else out there. Spread the word and encourage the media to stop over-hyping the threat!

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Caricature Map of the Great War

eliminat — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:02:57 +0000

Click for Full Version

This artistic and wonderful map of Europe in 1914 showing the countries of the Great War is a masterpiece.

Visit the creator’s website for more and the ability to order prints if you like.

The Clanker Powers:

Germany is a massive military machine with weapons aimed outwards to all surrounding countries. It points threateningly at Britain, not so much as a sign of direct aggression, but more as an indicator that it was now Germany’s turn to start a grand global Empire to challenge the world’s current one.

Austria Hungary is an aggressive armoured giant, teetering on shoddy foundations. It is also the primary aggressor in a land grab against Serbia, with two bayonets piercing the border.

The Ottoman empire is a teetering automaton, collapsing under the weight of a paranoid and ungainly spying network that gazes at Europe through many lenses and spy glasses.

The Swiss watch ticks away the time, comfortable to wait it all out.

The Darwinist Powers:

Britain is an militaristic lion with a Roman Imperial italic-type helmet. It sits upon a mound of riches gathered from its Empire.

France’s elephant beast (wearing the French kepi they started the war with before adapting their firefighter helmets) is influenced by the Elephantine Collossus built for the Universal Exhibition of 1889 in Paris (later it ended up going to the Moulin Rouge.)

Russia is a huge imperialist bear, rotting and filled with maggots.

Serbia’s imagery is an indicator of the huge amounts of civilian deaths and suffering they’ll find themselves subject to.

Norway and Sweden are both Scandinavian trolls in the style of John Bauer, an inspirational illustrator from the era who produced a lot of phenomenal work during the war.

Portugal is a parrot for the Entente trying to goad a slumbering Spain into the war.

Ireland looks askance to Britain and brandishes a shillelagh. An indicator of their very rough relationship at the time, and of their upcoming involvement with the Central powers.

Italy is a clutch of snakes with intents on the Central powers despite existing agreements. A foreshadowing of their arrangements at the secret 1915 Treaty of London where they were promised land in exchange for involvement. It was heavily influenced by Italian Prime Minister, Antonio Salandra’s open policy of serving Italy’s “divine self-interest.”

Keith Thompson Art

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Skeletons of Famous Cartoon Characters

eliminat — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:52:06 +0000

Korea’s Arario Gallery hosted an exhibit by Hyungkoo Lee entitled Animatus in 2006.
Animatus was an exhibition which allows to see the skeletons of famous Looney Tunes characters such as Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Wile E Coyote and Road Runner. The show is created by Hyungkoo Lee who says the Animatus series started with the “intention to analyze anatomical structures and physical forms of animation characters, within the hypothesis to visualize their possible anatomical foundation.” Lee constructs the skeletons using a hybrid mix of real animal bones and synthetic materials.

Bugs Bunny

Tom & Jerry

Donald and Nephews

Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner

Click Photos for full size.

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Typing Speed Test

eliminat — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:59:42 +0000

Do you know how fast or accurately you type? Enter keybr.com

Keybr.com is very straightforward. You can choose from three basic lessons that start with a certain number of keys on the keyboard, and then, as you progress through the lessons, more keys are introduced to the mix to make things a little tougher.

Once you have determined that the lessons you have completed have reached their maximum result you can play with custom mode, where you can edit and personalize the text that you wish to practice.

Finally, to up the entertainment level of your typing lessons, you can import content from a web site or blog into Keybr.com to type it out.

Find out how fast you type, practice so you can type faster and more accurately, and get things on the internet/computer done faster.

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How Swine Flu Spreads

eliminat — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:51:51 +0000

When you get the flu, viruses turn your cells into tiny factories that help spread the disease. In this animation, NPR’s Robert Krulwich and medical animator David Bolinsky explain how a flu virus can trick a single cell into making a million more viruses.

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List of Known Phobias

eliminat — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:19:48 +0000

You know what it is you fear, now find out what that fear is called! Below in alphabetical order are a list of the phobias that I was able to find.

Achluophobia Fear of darkness.
Acousticophobia Fear of noise.
Acrophobia Fear of heights.
Agoraphobia Fear of open spaces or of being in crowded places.
Ailurophobia Fear of cats.
Alektorophobia Fear of chickens.
Alliumphobia Fear of garlic.
Allodoxaphobia Fear of opinions.
Altophobia Fear of heights.
Amaxophobia Fear of riding in a car.
Ambulophobia Fear of walking.
Ancraophobia or Anemophobia Fear of wind.
Androphobia Fear of men.
Anglophobia Fear of England, English culture, etc.
Anthrophobia Fear of flowers.
Antlophobia Fear of floods.
Anuptaphobia Fear of staying single.
Apeirophobia Fear of infinity.
Aphenphosmphobia Fear of being touched.
Apiphobia Fear of bees.
Apotemnophobia Fear of persons with amputations.
Arachnephobia/Arachnophobia Fear of spiders.
Arithmophobia Fear of numbers.
Arrhenphobia Fear of men.
Arsonphobia Fear of fire.
Astraphobia/Astrapophobia Fear of thunder and lightning.
Astrophobia Fear of stars/space.
Ataxophobia Fear of disorder or untidiness.
Atelophobia Fear of imperfection.
Athazagoraphobia Fear of being forgotton or ignored or forgetting.
Atychiphobia Fear of failure.
Aurophobia Fear of gold.
Automatonophobia Fear of ventriloquist’s dummies, animatronic creatures, wax statues
Automysophobia Fear of being dirty.
Autophobia Fear of being alone or of oneself.
Aviophobia/Aviatophobia Fear of flying.

Bacillophobia Fear of microbes.
Bacteriophobia Fear of bacteria.
Bathmophobia Fear of stairs or steep slopes.
Batophobia Fear of heights.
Batrachophobia Fear of amphibians (like frogs)
Belonephobia Fear of pins and needles.
Bibliophobia Fear of books.
Botanophobia Fear of plants.
Brontophobia Fear of thunder and lightning.

Cacophobia Fear of ugliness.
Cainophobia/Cainotophobia Fear of newness, novelty.
Caligynephobia Fear of beautiful women.
Carnophobia Fear of meat.
Catagelophobia Fear of being ridiculed.
Catoptrophobia Fear of mirrors.
Cenophobia / Centophobia Fear of new things or ideas.
Ceraunophobia Fear of thunder.
Chaetophobia Fear of hair.
Chionophobia Fear of snow.
Chiraptophobia Fear of being touched.
Chirophobia Fear of hands.
Chorophobia Fear of dancing.
Chrometophobia/Chrematophobia Fear of money.
Chromophobia/Chromatophobia Fear of colors.
Chronomentrophobia Fear of clocks.
Cibophobia/Sitophobia/Sitiophobia Fear of food.
Claustrophobia Fear of confined spaces.
Climacophobia Fear of stairs.
Clinophobia Fear of going to bed.
Coimetrophobia Fear of cemeteries.
Coulrophobia Fear of clowns.
Cyberphobia Fear of computers.
Cyclophobia Fear of bicycles.
Cymophobia Fear of waves.
Cynophobia Fear of dogs.

Demophobia Fear of crowds.
Dendrophobia Fear of trees.
Dentophobia Fear of dentists.
Didaskaleinophobia Fear of going to school.
Dipsophobia Fear of drinking.
Dishabiliophobia Fear of undressing in front of someone.
Dromophobia Fear of crossing streets.

Eisoptrophobia Fear of mirrors.
Elurophobia Fear of cats.
Emetophobia Fear of vomiting.
Entomophobia Fear of insects.
Ephebiphobia Fear of teenagers.
Epistaxiophobia Fear of nosebleeds.
Equinophobia Fear of horses.
Ergophobia Fear of work.

Felinophobia Fear of cats.

Gamophobia Fear of marriage.
Geliophobia Fear of laughter.
Genophobia Fear of sex.
Gephyrophobia, Gephydrophobia, or Gephysrophobia Fear of crossing bridges.
Gerascophobia Fear of growing old.
Glossophobia Fear of speaking in public or of trying to speak. Gynephobia/Gynophobia Fear of women.

Haphephobia/Haptephobia Fear of being touched.
Harpaxophobia Fear of being robbed.
Heliophobia Fear of the sun.
Hemophobia/Hemaphobia/Hematophobia Fear of blood.
Hierophobia Fear of priests or sacred things.
Hominophobia Fear of men.
Hylophobia Fear of forests.

Iatrophobia Fear of doctors.
Ichthyophobia Fear of fish.

Judeophobia Fear of Jews.

Keraunophobia Fear of thunder and lightning.
Kymophobia Fear of waves.

Lachanophobia Fear of vegetables.
Ligyrophobia Fear of loud noises.
Limnophobia Fear of lakes.
Liticaphobia Fear of lawsuits.
Lockiophobia Fear of childbirth.
Logizomechanophobia Fear of computers.
Logophobia Fear of words.
Lygophobia Fear of darkness.

Macrophobia Fear of long waits.
Mageirocophobia Fear of cooking.
Maieusiophobia Fear of childbirth.
Megalophobia Fear of large things.
Melissophobia Fear of bees.
Methyphobia Fear of alcohol.
Microphobia Fear of small things.
Misophobia Fear of being contaminated with dirt/germs.
Monophobia Fear of solitude or being alone.
Motorphobia Fear of automobiles.
Musophobia/Murophobia Fear of mice.

Necrophobia Fear of death / dead things.
Neophobia Fear of anything new.
Nosocomephobia Fear of hospitals.
Numerophobia Fear of numbers.

Ochlophobia Fear of crowds or mobs.
Ophidiophobia Fear of snakes.
Ophthalmophobia Fear of being stared at.
Ornithophobia Fear of birds.

Pedophobia Fear of children.
Peladophobia Fear of bald people.
Phasmophobia Fear of ghosts.
Placophobia Fear of tombstones.
Plutophobia Fear of wealth.
Pogonophobia Fear of beards.
Potamophobia Fear of rivers or running water.
Pteronophobia Fear of being tickled by feathers.
Pupaphobia fear of puppets.
Pyrophobia Fear of fire.

Rhytiphobia Fear of getting wrinkles.
Rupophobia Fear of dirt.

Scolionophobia Fear of school.
Selachophobia Fear of sharks.
Sesquipedalophobia Fear of long words.

Tachophobia Fear of speed.
Technophobia Fear of technology.
Telephonophobia Fear of telephones.
Testophobia Fear of taking tests.
Theophobia Fear of gods or religion.
Trypanophobia Fear of injections.

Venustraphobia Fear of beautiful women.
Verbophobia Fear of words.
Verminophobia Fear of germs.
Vestiphobia Fear of clothing.

Xenoglossophobia Fear of foreign languages.

Zoophobia Fear of animals

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Why Leaves Really Fall Off Trees

eliminat — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:05:34 +0000

You think you know why leaves fall off trees. Well, you’re wrong. It’s not the wind. It’s not the cold.

It’s the trees. They’re literally cutting off their own leaves.

Story at NPR

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Fourteen Defining Characteristics Of Fascism

eliminat — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:27:04 +0000

Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt recently wrote an article about fascism (”Fascism Anyone?,” Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20). Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism. The excerpt is in accordance with the magazine’s policy.

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military – Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism – The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined – Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed – Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment – Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

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Map of the World’s Different Power Plugs

eliminat — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:36:48 +0000

Map of the World's Power Plugs

An interesting and confusing map of the different power plugs different countries of the world us.

And if you’re wondering WHY!?!?

Giz Explains: Why Every Country Has a Different F#$%ing Plug

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Anything Google Can’t Find?

eliminat — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:28:32 +0000

The Droids We're Looking For

“I hope we will find them this way…”

Googling “the droids we’re looking for” … if the force was strong with them they’d click “I Feel Lucky”.

Episode 2-3 from the “Not the droid” miniseries.

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50 Years of Space Exploration On 1 Map

eliminat — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:02:54 +0000

Posted on Flickr is this amazing created image the shows 50 years of space exploration on 1 single image. Great reference piece for people interested in space exploration and interested in seeing what humanity has accomplished so far.

Flickr

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High-Res Image Of The Night’s Sky With Milky Way As The Center

eliminat — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:44:29 +0000

Cobbling together 3,000 individual photographs, a physicist has made a new high-resolution panoramic image of the full night sky, with the Milky Way galaxy as its centerpiece.

High Res Image of Night Sky

Click Image for Full Version

Axel Mellinger’s Website has more details about the how’s and why’s and what it took to create this amazing image.

All-Sky Milky Way Panorama 2.0

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Home Shopping Network Shows the Dangers of Playing The Nintendo Wii

eliminat — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:30:15 +0000

This HSN presenter remembered to use his wrist strap when playing with a Wiimote, so good for him! Unfortunately, it turns out you also have to make sure any attachments are firmly attached.

Check for more dangers from the Wii: The Dangers of Playing The Nintendo Wii (WiiHaveAProblem.com)

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Clean Up FaceBook in Firefox

eliminat — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:14:48 +0000

Use Facebook, but tired of all the apps, quizes, and other clutter that’s been filling up the feed lately? A GREAT Greasemonkey script called FaceBook Purity removes all those items from the feed so you’re left with a much cleaner and quicker to read/load feed. It tells you what it blocked in the upper-right, where you can also click to see what wasn’t in your feed if you’re curious or afraid you missed something.

For people who only use Facebook to keep in touch with friends/family, and not an all-encompassing entertainment stop, Facebook Purity can be a lifesaver.

Easiest way to install it is to

1) Install the GreaseMonkey Addon. (Follow the link and click Add to Firefox)

2) It will make you restart Firefox

3) Goto the Facebook Purity site.

4) Click the Install button on the page

5) Click Accept

6) Reload Facebook

That’s it. Enjoy a cleaner, faster Facebook experience.

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Google Wave Invites

eliminat — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:06:13 +0000

Google today has released to me another few Google Wave Beta invites. As I know many people are still trying to acquire an invite, and my friends that are interested mainly already have them, I’m offering them up to people who visit my page. People I actually know of course get first dibs, but if you leave a comment on this post, I will send an invite as they are available. I got 12, and of those 8 are still unspoken for at the moment.

Please note, even if I do send an invite, Google claims there could be a delay of up to a few days before you receive it as it is a limited roll-0ut.

If you found this post using Twitter or a search engine, please also spend a few minutes looking at the rest of my posts. Who knows, you might see something else you like as well.

Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation
and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

What is a wave?

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

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Left vs. Right Concept Map

eliminat — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:43:58 +0000

Click map for full size.

From a new book, The Visual Miscellaneum, come a concept-map exploring the Left vs Right political spectrum. It’s a simplified look at the two main sides in most political situations, the Left and the Right. The author talks about it on his blog here. Check it out.

The Visual Miscellaneum: A Colorful Guide to the World's Most Consequential Trivia

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World War II in Comic Form

eliminat — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:31:45 +0000

“Everything I know about World War II, I learnt in 5 minutes from World War Two: Simple Version.

Who better to explain epic global warfare than a group of anthropomorphic land masses?

Compensates the limited body movement of countries with over-the-top facial expression and clearly defined personalities.

World War 2 set to Comic Form

Share Your Appreciation

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World War I in Comic Form

eliminat — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:26:42 +0000

The Great War.

The War to End All Wars.

The War to Make the World Safe for Democracy.

Explained with countries beating the living hell out of each other.

The First World War in amusing comic form.

Share Your Appreciation

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Political Apple/PC Commercial Spoof

eliminat — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:41:15 +0000

Hi, I’m a Democrat. And I’m a Republican!

Spoof of Apple’s popular “Hi! I’m a PC! And I’m a Mac!” commercials.

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Ohio Is A Piano

eliminat — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:12:42 +0000

There are 88 keys on a normal piano. Anyone that enjoys playing or forced into piano lessons can tell you as much. Well someone recently realized there are also 88 counties in Ohio.

So what’s a geek to do with this discovery? Why he created a program that created a piano out of Ohio’s counties!

Now he didn’t just assign a key per county, no, that would be too easy. He assigned keys based on different information that you can choose from, name, population, density, no. of farms, etc.

The result? Well, it often sounds like an out of tune piano when playing music, but interesting none the less. Play around with the “Assign note according to:” and see what you can come up with.

Ohio Is A Piano

There are many directions one could go from here. I have chosen a few ways to see the geography of music (songs) and hear the music of geography (data, metro areas, or sequences based on Google Maps routing).

In my experience, most of it sounds like crap, apart from the provided simplified bits of actual songs of course, although even those might sound wrong (but hey, blame the sheet music I found). But I would be very interested to hear if anyone discovers any patterns that sound decent.

What’s missing, of course, is the ability to compose your own geographic music, that is, bringing in your own songs, sequencing counties into songs, seeing the data and grouping it in different ways, making your own chords and routes, and so on. That and controlling the music from the piano as well as the map. Compositionally, for now you’re stuck with just moving the mouse over the map, but perhaps you can imagine how this concept could be turned into a full-fledged crazy musical cartography application.

Ohio is a Piano

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Diary of Anne Frank – The Only Existing Video

eliminat — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:42:21 +0000

Many school children attending school over the years have read the Diary of Anne Frank. For many, it was their first introduction to the Nazi’s and the atrocities against the Jews and other minorities. Video has surfaced showing the young girl in an early home video. Only 20 seconds, the Anne Frank House hopes to bring more attention to the diary and the history for a new generation who may not yet know the story.

The only existing film footage of Anne Frank has been uploaded to YouTube by the Anne Frank House. The Amsterdam museum is hoping to bring attention to Anne’s story and diaries and reach a new generation who may be unfamiliar with her story.

At the 9 second mark in the clip, you can see Anne Frank leaning out of a second-story window as she watches a bride and groom exit a neighboring address. The Guardian reports that the scene dates back to July 22, 1941 and was provided to the museum by the couple in the 1990s.

The story also goes that in the 1950s, once Anne’s diary became public, the couple recognized Anne in their wedding video. So they decided to contact her father, Otto Frank, to whom they gave a 5 second version of the clip.

Anne Frank House

Diary of Anne Frank (Imprint Books)

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The ULTIMATE Gaming Machine……. of 1998

eliminat — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:44:44 +0000

In this The Screen Savers episode, Leo Laporte shows off the ultimate gaming PC of 1998. It consisted of a full-sized tower case, ASUS motherboard, CRT monitor, and 128MB of SDRAM.

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America’s Best Idea

eliminat — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:16:44 +0000

The National Parks: America’s Best Idea is a six-episode series directed by Ken Burns and written and co-produced by Dayton Duncan. Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature’s most spectacular locales – from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska – The National Parks: America’s Best Idea is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background – rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.

PBS

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Photographic Proof! President Obama Is A Cardboard Cutout!

eliminat — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:28:22 +0000

It takes only 20 seconds to see 130 pictures where President Obama has exactly the same expression in every single shot.

Barack Obama’s amazingly consistent smile from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

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Budget Reconciliation is NOT the Nuclear Option

eliminat — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:49:30 +0000

Much has been made lately of the proposal that Congress may use Reconciliation to pass the upcoming Health-Care Bill. Some have even termed the phrase “Nuclear Option” and have made it seem that using this perfectly legal and useful law would somehow be “cheating” or “unfair”.

The budget reconciliation process allows any legislation that has an impact on the deficit to come to a final vote after a maximum of 20 hours of debate. That means that the minority party cannot filibuster beyond those 20 hours, and that the legislation would need a simple majority of 51 votes to pass (not the 60 that it takes to break a filibuster). This is provided for in federal law approved by Congress and signed by President Richard Nixon. It has been used 21 times, by both Democratic and Republican Congress’, since its establishment in 1974. Clearly, there is nothing “nuclear” about using this process.

Simply put, this method does not somehow bypass voting or any laws, it simply puts a time limit on the filibuster. It then immediately brings forth the Constitutional vote by majority to pass a bill. Where it takes 60 votes to end a filibuster, the Constitution says that a simple majority (51 votes currently) is needed to pass the bill.

The “Nuclear Option” is actually completely separate. It would permanently change the rules of the Senate to allow the 51 vote pass, thereby completely eliminating the filibuster, for certain types of legislation.

OpenCongress: Budget Reconciliation is NOT the Nuclear Option

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