Today’s big bad security flap made for a very bad day for a lot of people. It wasn’t the nightmare I thought it would be at work, but there was a lot of information-overload “chaff” in the morning that had me stumped, so that I gave out bad information. Bad information! No! No! One of our travelers was escorted from the airport at a large city in India and told that he’d have to find someplace to stay for the night; he wasn’t even flying inbound to London, which was where so many flights were either delayed, diverted, or stranded.…
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Woke up to this morning’s news about the foiled plot in Britain to combine benign substances smuggled aboard at least 8 aircraft flying between London and the US and cause a series of catastrophic explosions. I heard the original live press conference with Chertoff, now I’m listening to Torturer-General Alberto Gonzalez following up on National Public Radio… I predict that very soon there will be some further erosion of civil rights, because it’s odd to me that a country’s atttorney general being prepped and primed to speak so soon after a major news break of this nature. It just feels…
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AFP – Presentation/The Story Behind The Photo: Pope John Paul II Fighting The Winds Of Change (tags: Photography AFP JohnPaul)
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The Archaeology Channel – Atipanakuy This video of two Peruvian “scissors dancers” seems to be making some sort of point about the struggle between native Peruvian and imposed Spanish culture through the ages, but I’m damned if I can make it out. It’s in Quechua with Spanish and English subtitles, but the text seems to be saying something about dreams and harps and violins and a lot of poetic what-not. As the Scotsman newspaper notes in a review elsewhere, “for specialist tastes only” as the ritualistic nature of this dance apparently involves putting objects up the nose, which is “rather…
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BBC NEWS | Europe | Ancient dagger found in Bulgaria It’s made of an alloy of gold and platinum that wasn’t believed to exist for another millennium. Although it’s broken into at least 2 pieces, it’s still sharp enough to shave with, according to one observer. It’s 5,000 years old, and was once the most beautiful weapon on Earth. Though no one is saying anything about the more than 15,000 tiny gold rings also found in the same site, they might have been from a chainmail shirt or garment of some type (rather than bits of broken jewelry). A shirt…
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NOOOOO! They’ve installed advertising flatscreens in the elevators at work! It’s not truly “television,” but it’s yet another commercial intrusion into one of life’s little bastions of peace. It was bad enough when Muzak was all the rage, and you were forced to listen as you went from floor to floor, but I had hoped that we’d be spared ads in our obscure and out of the way suburban building. Dang. Via: Flickr Title: 08-08-06_1503.jpg By: GinnyRED57 Originally uploaded: 8 Aug ’06, 3.04pm CDT PST Technorati Tags: Advertising
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NATION IN BRIEF/24,000 childrun injured in shopping carts childfree people have been saying for years ‘jeez, parents who let their kids stand up in shopping cards are dumb.’ Now, we are validated by pediatricians, no less. (tags: childfreedom)
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U.K. census finally online — 921 years later Domesday Book is online (tags: Domesday) ‘Baby, Give Me a Kiss’ – Los Angeles Times “Girls Gone Wild” impresario: creepy playa, or serial rapist who gets signed consent forms? (tags: girlsgonewild) Saint Nicholas Episcopal Church (tags: Episcopal Chicago) Canyon Creek Bed and Breakfast History (tags: B&B Montrose)
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Seen recently: ***Dave :: Curry and Cognition. I mentioned this idea that’s been making the rounds via a recent study to my husband David: eating curry may have a beneficial effect on the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, and eating it now and then may have some sort of protective effect. So; more curry for us! We made some using a rather strange but tasty Japanese product called “Vermont Curry,” which I found at Meijer. It was a lot like the H&B curry blocks (which are melted into a hot, soupy mixture of sauted meats and vegetables that have then come…
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VANITY FAIR : FEATURES : GENERAL The 911 transcripts (tags: 911) Father Jake Stops the World: Teresa Mathes: Don’t Call Them Conservatives I met Teresa’s husband the Bishop of San Diego when he was still Canon Mathes of Chicago, meeting with us at Holy Moly. (tags: Episcopal ACN AAC) The Association of Religion Data Archives (tags: NeatNewStuff Religion) Home Remodeling Center – Home Remodeling Plans (tags: NeatNewStuff DIY Remodeling homeimprovement)