Associated Press Correspondent Terry Anderson is released from captivity; American troops head to Somalia; General George Washington says farewell to his officers in New York; Frank Zappa dies. (Dec. 4)
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Residents of the Kaz Mountains (pictured) in Turkey are worried about the impact of gold mining. Photo: B@ni / Creative Commons . With few legal or political avenues open to fight what they say is illegal and environmentally damaging mining, four Mongolian activists took drastic action earlier this fall: They opened fire with hunting rifles on gold-mining equipment owned by two foreign firms, China’s Puraam and Canada’s Centerra Gold…. Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …In a sort of continuation of 60 Minutes offering a platform for David Stockman to trash his former Reaganite colleagues, Stephen Colbert interviewed Stockman on Thursday night's Colbert Report. At the show's opening, the graphic was the lame pun “Reag Against the Machine” and Colbert said “I'll ask him what it was like when America had a budget.” Stockman quickly proceeded to trash supply-side economics and suggest most of our Pentagon budget is wasted in an ineffective war on terror. (He didn't repeat his call for a 15 percent national income surtax.) You can see why the liberals now love to put him on television. In this interview, Colbert actually kept up the conservative character in spots, but it was an another offering for Stockman to blame mostly conservatives for the debt problem. COLBERT: What do you think about extending the Bush tax cuts. You don think we should do that? STOCKMAN: No, I don't think we should do that, because extending the Bush – read more
Continue reading …Homophobe John McCain who has embarrassed himself horribly with his shifting goalposts and blatantly ridiculous excuses for blocking the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell had this one coming from Jon Stewart. Ladies and gentlemen, Jon Stewart presents… Gaypocalypse Now. Here’s more from TPM. Jon Stewart Rips John McCain Over Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell : Jon Stewart last night lampooned Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) continued stalwart opposition to repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, even after the Pentagon released its review indicating that a repeal of the ban on openly gay men and women would have little to no effect on military readiness. “McCain’s like one of them Japanese soldiers living on Okinawa in 1949, still fighting because he doesn’t realize the war ended a long time ago,” Stewart said. “And, for some reason, even though he’s been alone for years and years on this island, doesn’t like gay people.” I particularly liked the analogy between McCain and The Black Knight from Monty Python’s The Holy Grail. Very fitting. Stewart also slammed “maverick” McCain for flip-flopping on some of his previous statements, although it wasn’t as good as this segment I recorded for the site back in September of 2008 —
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Approved and waiting for your download, Chrome to Windows Phone 7 is now available in the mobile OS’ operating system. True to its name, once you download both this app and the applicable Chrome extension, a quick click on the Windows logo in your otherwise Google browser will send links or selected text to your Microsoft mobile. Join your Android friends in embracing the Continuous Client lifestyle. Chrome to Windows Phone 7 now available originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Dec 2010 09:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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16-year-old Elad Riven lost his life while volunteering in battle against Carmel hills fire. Birthday balloons still decorate his home. Mother: He was my whole life
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The curator elites at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery were happily abusing the trust of the American taxpayer, with radical gay activists pushing a gay agenda, replete with the religiously bigoted, sadomasochistic and homoerotic fare, all under the auspices of “art.” Then something happened. The public complained. Now these radicals are shocked – shocked! – that the “censors” are out to destroy their “artistic freedom.” It’s like a bad rendition of “Groundhog Day.” How many times must we relive this foolishness? The sponsors tell us that “Hide/Seek” is “the first major exhibition to examine the influence of gay and lesbian artists in creating modern American portraiture,” and how these gay and lesbian artists have made “essential contributions to both the art of portraiture and to the creation of modern American culture.” But that isn’t enough. Theirs is a political message as part of a political agenda. To quote from their program, they want to strike a blow for “the struggle for justice, so that people and groups can claim their full inheritance in America’s promise of equality, inclusion, and social dignity.” read more
Continue reading …Google acquires speech synthesis outfit Phonetic Arts, plans to use Jack Donaghy’s voice for everything
December 4, 2010 No Comment
Don’t ever knock Google for not reinvesting a little of that cheddar it’s stacking in Mountain View. Barely two months after pulling the trigger on BlindType, El Goog has now sunk an undisclosed amount of money into Phonetic Arts, described as a speech synthesis company based in Cambridge, England. Naturally, Google’s been toiling around the clock in an effort to better its speech technologies, and it looks as if it could be cutting out quite a few months (or years) of work with this one purchase. Phonetic Arts was known for being on the “cutting edge of speech synthesis, delivering technology that generates natural computer speech from small samples of recorded voice,” and we get the impression that the team will be given clearance badges to enter Google’s London-based engineering facility shortly. The company’s own Mike Cohen is hoping that this will help us “move a little faster towards that Star Trek future” — frankly, we’re hoping to have Jack Donaghy’s voice become the de facto standard in under a year. We hear some dudes at 30 Rock are already toying with a prototype… Google acquires speech synthesis outfit Phonetic Arts, plans to use Jack Donaghy’s voice for everything originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Dec 2010 08:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …New Chic Travel Accessories by Jendarling Offer Alternative to Plastic Garment Bags
December 4, 2010 No Comment
Photo: Jendarling Bags We’ve covered Jendarling’s organic garment bags before. But with the holiday/travel season in full swing, their new chic Chelsea Girl collection , comprised of non-plastic garment and travel bags, is right on cue. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Home Front Command rep says work of foreign firefighting planes yielding significant results, but doubts blaze will be extinguished entirely in coming hours; seven people evacuated to hospital due to smoke inhalation
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