Psych Psycho aka Da White Ghoul COTC Psych Psycho aka Arthur Shawcross White Widow Psych Psycho aka Arthur Shawcross Single Serve Macaroni & Cheese katjolufan says: I’ve had cookies. I’ve had milk. I’ve watched an episode of Psych . There’s little more I could possibly do to make life better. #SleepTime
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Japanese government will admit for first time that radiation levels will be too high to allow many evacuees to return home Residents who lived close to the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant are to be told their homes may be uninhabitable for decades, according to Japanese media reports. The Japanese prime minister, Naoto Kan, is expected to visit the area at the weekend to tell evacuees they will not be able to return to their homes, even if the operation to stabilise the plant’s stricken reactors by January is successful. Kan’s announcement will be the first time officials have publicly recognised that radiation damage to areas near the plant could make them too dangerous to live in for at least a generation, effectively meaning that some residents will never return to them. A Japanese government source is quoted in local media as saying the area could be off-limits for “several decades”. New data has revealed unsafe levels of radiation outside the 12-mile exclusion zone, increasing the likeliness that entire towns will remain unfit for habitation. The exclusion zone was imposed after a series of hydrogen explosions at the plant following the earthquake and tsunami in March. The government had planned to lift the evacuation order and allow 80,000 people back into their homes inside the exclusion zone once the reactors had been brought under control. Several thousand others living in random hotspots outside the zone have also had to relocate. However, in a report issued over the weekend the science ministry projected that radiation accumulated over one year at 22 of 50 tested sites inside the exclusion zone would easily exceed 100 millisieverts, five times higher than the safe level advised by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. “We can’t rule out the possibility that there will be some areas where it will be hard for residents to return to their homes for a long time,” said Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretaryand face of the government during the disaster. “We are very sorry.” Edano refused to say which areas were on the no-go list or how long they would remain uninhabitable, adding that a decision would be made after more radiation tests have been conducted. The government has yet to decide how to compensate the tens of thousands of residents and business owners who will be forced to start new lives elsewhere. The state has hinted that it may buy or rent land from residents in unsafe areas, although it has not ruled out trying to decontaminate them. Futaba and Okuma, towns less than two miles from the Fukushima plant, are expected to be among those on the blacklist. The annual cumulative radiation dose in one district of Okuma was estimated at 508 millisieverts, which experts believe is high enough to increase the risk of cancer. More than 300 households from the two towns will be allowed to return briefly to their homes next week to collect belongings. It will be the first time residents have visited their homes since the meltdown. The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power, is working to bring the three crippled reactors and four overheating spent fuel pools to a safe state known as “cold shutdown” by mid-January. Last week the company estimated that leaks from all three reactors had dropped significantly over the past month. But signs of progress at the plant have been tempered by widespread contamination of soil, trees, roads and farmland. Experts say that while health risks can be lowered by measures including the removal of layers of topsoil, vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children should avoid even minimal exposure. “Any exposure would pose a health risk, no matter how small,” Hiroaki Koide, a radiation specialist at Kyoto University, told Associated Press. “There is no dose that we should call safe.” Any government admission that residents will not be able to return to their homes will be closely monitored in Japan. Suspicions persist that the authorities privately acknowledged this situation several months ago. In April, Kenichi Matsumoto, a senior adviser to the cabinet, quoted Kan as saying that people would not be able to live near the plant for “10 to 20 years”. Matsumoto later claimed to have made the remark himself. Japan disaster Japan Nuclear power Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
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Hundreds of demonstrators in Homs defy government whitewash of brutal crackdown on five-month uprising The Syrian government’s attempts to whitewash evidence of a brutal crackdown on the country’s five-month uprising appeared to backfire on Monday after a visiting UN humanitarian delegation was met by protesters waving SOS signs. Hundreds of demonstrators in Homs, which has had tanks on the streets and snipers on the roofs for weeks, surrounded the UN car in the central New Clock square, shouting for the overthrow of the regime and holding up the signs, according to video footage and local residents. Crowds there and in several other cities have been emboldened by signs of an imminent victory for the rebels in Libya after six months of a Nato-backed offensive against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Syrian messages of congratulations and messages to president Bashar al-Assad that he will be next have been circulating online. A woman in Homs said: “Libya has given us encouragement. But the international community needs to know what has been happening here. What is being reported only scratches the surface.” The jubilation at the Libyan rebels’ gains eclipsed a televised interview with a defiant Assad on Sunday in which he threatened “intolerable” consequences for the international community if it intervenes in Syria and suggested force would continue to be used against an “increasingly militant” opposition. With the success of the Nato offensive in Libya, questions of similar action in Syria have inevitably been raised. But the appetite among protesters or in the international community for military action in Syria, which has links to numerous flashpoint conflicts in the region, is almost nonexistent. Syria’s state news agency Sana said that Assad formed a committee to approve the formation of rivals to the ruling Ba’ath party in the runup to parliamentary elections early next year. Human rights groups say more than 2,000 people have been killed in the crackdown since mid-March, with thousands detained and tortured. Two people were shot dead in Homs after security forces opened fire on the crowds who had poured out to meet the UN team, residents said, while two people were shot dead overnight on Sunday in Hama. The UN, which has been focusing on human rights infringements after its security council was unable to agree on a resolution, will demand that Syria allow a team to assess whether crimes against humanity have been committed, an official said after a special session on Monday. Another UN official told the Guardian that the government had stuck to its promise to allow the delegation unfettered access to the country but residents from Homs said the mission missed a key neighbourhood of Khaldiyeh where the crackdown has been severe. Nonetheless a western diplomat said it was “turning into an anti-government roadshow with the whole thing backfiring on the Syrians”. The diplomat said people had flocked to the UN team to show the delegation signs of torture during a visit to Douma and Moadimiyeh. Nour Ali is the pseudonym of a journalist based in Damascus Syria Bashar Al-Assad Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Nour Ali guardian.co.uk
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Somebody may want to show this video to Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann. An orangutan at Japan’s Tama Zoo delighted visitors with its cooling off skills, dipping a towel into a pool, wringing it out, dabbing its face and upper body, and repeating. It may sound basic, but it’s pretty amazing to watch the ape in action. And when the towel-keeper wouldn’t share with a smaller orangutan? Check out what the little one did to prove a towel wasn’t needed to stay cool. Multiple studies have shown wild orangutans use “found objects” like branches to swat bees, leaves to protect their hands from spiny fruit and collections of leafy sticks to create an umbrella-type tool. Another study observed captive orangutans using raw materials provided to them to perform tasks such as removing raisins from wooden blocks. It’s easy to see why the “orangutan” is also know as the “person of the forest.” Earlier this year, the Girl Scouts organization came under fire for supporting palm oil plantations, which are said to threaten the orangutan population. WATCH: Say OMG via BuzzFeed. —-
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If you were in need of HP news that has nothing to do with the sold-out, overnight sensation that’s become the TouchPad, then read on. The company’s just announced a new all-in-one desktop solution for the enterprise set — the Compaq 8200 Elite. Starting at a wallet-pleasing $1000, the 1920 x 1080 23-inch full HD monitor comes outfitted with your choice of Intel’s Pentium or vPro line of chips, up to 8GB DDR3 SDRAM, HDD storage that ranges from 250GB to 1TB, six USB 2.0 ports, an optional Blu-ray drive, and a six-in-one media card reader. As you might expect, the machine also comes pre-loaded with MS’ ever-handy Office 2010 starter pack and Norton Internet Security. Sound like the sort of refresh you so desperately need for your cubicle? Then check it out for yourself at the source below. HP’s Compaq 8200 Elite all-in-one desktop coming to a cubicle near you originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The latest Improv Everywhere mission encouraged New Yorkers to “Say Something Nice” using a bullhorn in public. For our latest mission we constructed a custom wooden lectern with a megaphone holster and an attached sign that read, “Say Something Nice.” The lectern was placed in public spaces around New York and then left alone. We Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Laughing Squid Discovery Date : 22/08/2011 17:13 Number of articles : 2
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Harpal Kumar believes ‘explosion’ in understanding of the disease could revolutionise treatment and reduce cost of drugs The head of the UK’s leading cancer charity has said understanding of the disease is advancing “exponentially”, as potentially groundbreaking trials to genetically test tumours of 9,000 newly diagnosed patients begin. Describing a “golden era” of research, Harpal Kumar, the chief executive of Cancer Research UK , said there has been “an explosion in our understanding of what cancer is, why it happens, why it doesn’t happen in some people and why it moves around the body”. The trials backed by the Department of Health and Cancer Research are being launched next month in seven hospitals across Britain. Scientists believe the results could revolutionise cancer treatments. They will aim to find out which existing drugs the cancers are susceptible to. They will also potentially pave the way for discoveries of new medicines that are personalised or targeted to the genetic makeup of an individual’s cancer and therefore far more effective. The two-year project is intended to lead to a full roll-out of genetic testing of tumours across the NHS. The government has given its backing to increased genetic testing as part of the national cancer plan, which Cancer Research believes will bring about a significant change in the way cancers are treated. Kumar said: “I’m not trying to present a utopian view that we know everything, because we don’t. But our knowledge is growing exponentially. We are learning vast amounts more as months go by. “It is not hyperbolic to say that this is the future of treatment. This is the future of medicine. This will not just be true in cancer but across medicine more generally.” Most medicines work in some people but not others. In some diseases, such as cancer, they work in only a relatively small proportion of patients. “People have known for years that we give treatment and it is only going to work for 20% of people and we are now on the cusp of finding out what is going on,” said Kumar. Just as each individual’s DNA is different, so is that of cancer tumours. In the trial beginning next month, tumour samples from patients with one of the commonest cancers – breast, bowel, lung, prostate, melanoma and ovarian – will be subjected to a series of tests. Some of these tests – for instance, the test for the HER2 enzyme in breast cancer which indicates that anti-tumour drug Herceptin will work – are already in regular use, but others are not. The trial will test the feasibility of introducing a low-cost panel of genetic tests for all cancer patients. But it will also accumulate an important database for researchers, by following what happens to the patients. The genetic makeup of the cancer influences not only which drugs will work, but how effective surgery and radiotherapy will be. It is also possible, says Kumar, that researchers will find that old or discarded drugs will work on certain patients, long after they were shelved because they had little impact on large populations. “The likelihood is that we have many of the tools already but we don’t know how to use them properly,” Kumar said. “We have lots of great drugs and know they work with lots of people, but not with other people. “There are also lots of drugs undoubtedly that have never made it to market because we couldn’t figure out which patients to use them for.” If pharmaceutical companies would not investigate them, he said, academics would. “Patents expire and molecules become available to everyone,” Kumar added. “This also applies to radiotherapy. It works for some people and not others. The real future will be figuring out which.” New cancer drugs come with huge price tags and can be rejected from the NHS by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) as too expensive for the benefit they offer. But targeting drugs to specific sub-groups, Kumar said, could bring the price down. “The problem at the moment is that it takes $1bn [£600m] to get a drug to market and 15 years or more. That is the justification for the pharmaceutical industry charging high prices. “If on the other hand by the time you get to phase 2 you know exactly which patients it is going to work on, you only put those patients through and instead of 10% you get an 80% response rate. “You get a licence on the basis of the data and don’t have to go to phase 3 [a trial involving thousands of people]. That saves vast sums of money and years of development. What that does to the business model is it means you can justify charging lower prices because it cost a lot less in the first place. “If we get this right, it changes the entire dynamics of the business model of the pharmaceutical industry.” Cancer Drugs Cancer NHS Health Sarah Boseley guardian.co.uk
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Former presidential candidate in line to rejoin race if – as expected – New York sexual assault charges are dropped French Socialists are paving the way for Dominique Strauss-Kahn to return to politics if – as expected – charges of sexual assault against him in New York are dropped on Tuesday, leaving him free to fly home. Leading members of the Socialist party said a political comeback could be “envisaged” if the 62-year-old former head of the IMF wished to take part in next year’s presidential campaign. Strauss-Kahn was widely tipped to become the next president of France before he was arrested and charged with attacking a maid in a New York hotel four months ago. Over the weekend, lawyers for Strauss-Kahn’s accuser, Nafissatou Diallo, said she had been summoned to a meeting with prosecutors in New York ahead of a court hearing on Tuesday. Diallo’s lawyers said they were expecting prosecutors to tell her they were dropping the case. Although DSK, as he is known in France, missed the July deadline for taking part in the Socialist party’s election to select a candidate, the man who replaced him as favourite – François Hollande – opened the door on Monday for his return to politics. Speaking on French radio, Hollande said Strauss-Kahn’s return to politics “could be envisaged”. He told France-Inter Radio: “Whatever has been said, a man with the abilities of Dominique Strauss-Kahn can be useful to his country in the months and years to come.” . Asked whether Strauss-Kahn could take part in the Socialist primaries, he replied: “That depends on him.” Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, a friend of DSK, said it was too early to say what Strauss-Kahn would do. “It’s possible the charges will be suspended and Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be cleared,” he said. “This will be justice, because I believe he is innocent of the facts of which he is accused. “If he is cleared, let him reconstruct himself after the injustice that has been done to him.” Asked if Strauss-Kahn could hypothetically ask for the July deadline for candidates to be set aside and stand in the primaries, a party spokesman said: “It’s complicated.” He added: “He would need the agreement of all six candidates. It’s a very hypothetical situation.” Several party heavyweights, including Cambadélis and Pierre Moscovici, had previously suggested the deadline for candidates to declare should be delayed to allow DSK a chance to stand if cleared. Just as Strauss-Kahn’s arrest in May threw the French left into a state of shock and chaos, so his eventual return will almost certainly sow doubt and confusion when the Socialists gather for their annual party conference in the seaside resort of La Rochelle on Friday. Many of DSK’s closest supporters have since thrown their weight behind one of the six declared primary candidates. Hollande’s closest rival is Martine Aubry, who had concluded a secret agreement not to run against Strauss-Kahn for the party nomination before his arrest. The word most used in French newspapers and magazines on Monday was “blanchi”, which literally translates as whitened. As if to emphasise the point, Strauss-Kahn was pictured on the front page of France Soir wearing a whiter-than-white summer T-shirt. The newspaper referred to his “nightmare summer”, adding that DSK “intends to leave the United States with his head held high”. Strauss-Kahn’s biographer, Michel Taubmann – who is in regular contact with him – told France Soir: “He doesn’t want to rejoice too quickly. But for the first time we’ve spoken about other things than the case.” Even if he is set free, Strauss-Kahn is still facing a possible investigation in France where journalist and writer Tristane Banon, 32, has accused him of attempted rape . She claims he jumped on her and behaved like a “rutting chimpanzee” when she went to interview him in February 2003. A preliminary inquiry is being carried out by the prosecutor’s office to see if there is a case to answer. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers have denied the claims and described the allegation as “fantasy”. Concentrating on the New York allegation, France Soir added: “The former presidential favourite is beginning to anticipate his return to home and, one day, to political life.” However, Jérôme Sainte-Marie, deputy director of the Paris-based opinion pollsters CSA, said the French may not be so willing to welcome him back with open arms. He told the Guardian: “Anything can happen, but I think there’s little chance he will be able to return to high level politics. It will be hard to turn back the clock.” According to CSA polls, before 13 May Strauss-Kahn was in a strong position to win next May’s presidential election against Nicolas Sarkozy. His popularity in the country stood at 50%, with 30-35% of those asked saying they would vote for him in the first round of the presidential election and 60-65% saying they would vote for him in the second round, giving him a clear victory. His popularity fell to 26% in June but rallied to 32% in July when doubts about the credibility of his accuser led to him being released from house arrest. His figures then dropped to a new low of 25% this month. There was little difference in the opinions of men and women. Sainte-Marie said: “The fact that 25% of people still have a good opinion of him after all we have learned is surprising, but he was enormously popular to start with. “The moral aspect of this doesn’t matter very much at all. French people don’t care about the sex or sentimental lives of their politicians – what does matter is a lack of credibility, a lack of seriousness, particularly at a time of financial storms.” Sainte-Marie said the French had “learned too much” about DSK, who before the incident in the Sofitel in New York had a reputation as a “chaud lapin” (hot bunny) and womaniser. “French people want someone reliable as president, and however brilliant he is they are not prepared to accept someone who cannot control himself or who puts his personal appetite before affairs of state,” Sainte-Marie said. Dominique Strauss-Kahn France Europe United States Kim Willsher guardian.co.uk
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World leaders were looking ahead Monday to the future of a Libya without Moammar Gadhafi in any leadership role. But they were also urging the longtime strongman __ whose whereabouts remained unknown __ to surrender. (Aug. 22)
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enlarge Credit: Rolling Stone Michelle Bachmann and many right leaning politicians have indicated their divine inspiration coming from the same three religious leaders: Francis Schaeffer, Loren Cunningham, and Bill Bright. In an article from the New Yorker Bachmann indicated she got involved in politics after being inspired by a video designed to bring people to a religious movement. After all – as a graduate of Oral Roberts University Law School – Bachmann is no stranger to “Christian Reconstructionism.” Their work began in the 70′s and 80′s when many of today’s Republican candidates were in college and first getting started. Those three religious leaders came from their own projects – Campus Crusade, Youth With a Mission, and Francis Schaeffer was the author of the Christian Manifesto (the Christian version of the Communist Manifesto) and many credit with being one of the fathers of the anti-choice movement. Their mutual project was called Reclaiming the 7 Mountains of Culture, in which their aim was to take over every element of our society with their right wing ideology. According to the video above, what these religious zealots believe is in a kind of war between good and evil that must be fought by them as part of a righteous army to save the souls of all people. Their souls, of course, can only be saved if this religious army takes over the seven elements of our culture to “shape and influence its destiny.” Government: which they say can either restrain evil or endorse it. Education: “Where truths or lies about God and His creation are taught.” Media: where they believe information can be interpreted through the lens of good or evil and then inevitably distributed to the sad lost souls they feel the need to save. Arts and Entertainment: the only place that values and “virtue” are either celebrated or distorted. Please note, values and virtue have no place in your home life or faith life – evidently they must be taught through arts and entertainment only…. Religion: “Where people worship God in spirit and truth or settle for a religious ritual.” Family: which can pass on either blessings or curses from generation to generation. Business: “Where people build for the glory of God or the glory of man.” The most surprising of these seven mountains is the final one which the video says is the most important and that each and all of these mountains depend on. Not faith, not religion, not family …. but business. Business is the mountain that holds up all other mountains. It’s business that holds up religion and faith, it’s business that holds up the family, and ultimately it’s business that holds up our government. Sounds a lot like a recent Supreme Court ruling doesn’t it? When our founders wrote the Preamble, these religious people would have us believe they actually meant “We the businesses, in order to form a more corporate union, establish Justice on the backs of the people we once insured domestic tranquility, as we provide for a profitable defense industrial complex, promote the Wall Street Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to only those who can afford it.” They believe the church retreated when they once held control (I’m not clear when this era was), they feel there has been a kind of void or darkness over our world since. “When we lose our influence, we lose our culture. And when we lose our culture we fail to advance the kingdom of God.” Essentially, this Holy War is the justification for the culture war that candidates like Michelle Bachmann and now apparently Rick Perry are attempting to tap into. They believe that an entire generation stands in “desperate need” but doesn’t clarify what that need is. The religious movement, like many movements, seems to be nested in vague concepts in efforts to cover the absurdity of the specifics. But if you want to see the specifics of a nation under leaders who follow this religious movement, you need only look at the Bachmanns of the world. These leaders hope to rewrite our Constitution with one that is derived of their own interpretation of the Old Testament. And these people aren’t merely running for office – the gold-loving, Federal Reserve-hating Glenn Becks of the world – the home school/charter school-loving Janet Barresis of the world, and pastors that litter the airwaves like a disembodied head shouting they’re the Great and Powerful Oz every Sunday morning. Some call it a kind of Christian Reconstructionism , which I alluded to in my Bachmann reference since she graduated from Oral Roberts. “Christian Reconstructionists, and their acolytes of the Constitution Party, believe America should be governed by biblical law. In her 1995 book, “Roads to Dominion: Right Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States,” Sara Diamond describes the most significant impact of Reconstructionism on dominionism: “the diffuse influence of the ideas that America was ordained a Christian nation and that Christians, exclusively, were to rule and reign.” While most Christian right activists were “not well-versed in the arcane teachings” of Christian Reconstructionism, she wrote, “there was a wider following for softer forms of dominionism.” For the Christian right, it’s more a political strategy than a secret “plot” to “overthrow” the government, even as some evangelists describe it in terms of “overthrowing” the powers of darkness (i.e., Satan), and even some more radical, militia-minded groups do suggest such a revolution.” While in the past we would have seen leaders try to mask their quest against an imagined evil, today it’s so overt you find stumps speeches dripping with the barely coded terminology of the “self-righteous.” Even now, in conservative states, you find Democratic candidates willing to adopt some of this rhetoric or some of these ideologies in efforts to appeal to more conservative voters. Regardless of the absurdity surrounding their quest, there’s a sad isolation for those who believe in a world filled with evil in need of making it good. Their entire movement is filled with people who ultimately see the glass as half empty. Or worse – maybe they see it as half full because they like to pretend they are thinking positively, but its half full with the juice of evil. No wonder they never have anything to lose.
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