The home this week, fitted with solar panels. All photos via Matt Grocoff/ Greenovation TV If you want a super, energy-efficient home, you have to build new, right? Not necessarily. A 110-year-old Victorian home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is being touted as America’s oldest net-zero energy house, and the first of its kind in the state. … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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A cholera outbreak that has killed about 200 people in rural Haiti is threatening to spread to the capital of Port-au-Prince, endangering the hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors crowded into squalid camps around the city. —JCL Al-Jazeera English: The United Nations says that 194 Haitians have died in an an outbreak of cholera that is threatening to spread to the capital, Port-au-Prince, endangering hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors sheltered in camps. The announcement on Saturday came as the disease began to spread outside the worst-affected rural Artibonite region, triggering fears that the toll could be significantly higher. Officials in Haiti have admitted that they have not been able to visit all the areas, suggesting that many cases may not have been reported. Read more Related Entries October 20, 2010 From ‘Sons of Confederate Veterans’ to Children’s Ears October 17, 2010 Merkel: Multiculturalism Has Failed
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In an horrific witch hunt, violent assaults have followed the publication of a local Ugandan newspaper that printed an article entitled “100 Pictures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak”. The news outlet, oddly enough called “Rolling Stone”, has said it will continue to publish the names of gay individuals. For context, any gay sexual act is already illegal in Uganda, and a proposed draconian “Anti-homosexuality Bill” has sparked international outcry. Also the paper that found it newsworthy to print the names of thought-to-be-gay individuals? It has been in publication for a whopping two months. So watch out as we begin a new series of our own: “Top Newspapers in Uganda that Publish Rubbish and are Likely Overcompensating for its Editor’s Own Toilsome Battle With Sexuality”. —JCL The BBC: Several people have been attacked in Uganda after a local newspaper published their names and photos, saying they were homosexual, an activist has told the BBC. Frank Mugisha said one woman was almost killed after her neighbours started throwing stones at her house. He said most of those whose names appeared in Uganda’s Rolling Stone paper had been harassed. Read more Related Entries October 20, 2010 ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Back in Effect October 20, 2010 Wars Will Cease When We Refuse to Fight
Continue reading …I guess this could be considered an addendum to the earlier post from Houston on the work that True the Vote is doing down there : True the Vote reports that at least four noncitizens have been registered to vote in Harris County. The group provided Justice with the actual voter registration forms where applicants marked “NO” to the question: “Are you a U.S. Citizen?” The group also provided the voter registration numbers of these confessed noncitizens. Yes, astonishingly, Harris County registered them to vote anyway. They are now on the rolls and able to participate in the upcoming midterm elections. As long as they marked “Democrat” for their party registration nothing else on the page matters.
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The release of over 400,000 classified documents on the Iraq war has been officially labeled the biggest leak in U.S. history, leading the UN to call on the U.S. to investigate American troops’ human rights abuses while the Guardian newspaper has discovered record of 15,000 previously unreported civilian deaths. Wikileaks , the site responsible for the leak, also presents evidence that British forces were also involved in war crimes that happened in Iraq. —JCL The Guardian: The UN has called on Barack Obama to order a full investigation of US forces’ involvement in human rights abuses in Iraq after a massive leak of military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes. The call, by the UN’s chief investigator on torture, Manfred Nowak, came as Phil Shiner, human rights specialist at Public Interest Lawyers in the UK, warned that some of the deaths documented in the Iraq war logs could have involved British forces and would be pursued through the UK courts. He demanded a public inquiry into allegations that British troops were responsible for civilian deaths during the conflict. The Guardian has analysed the 400,000 documents, the biggest leak in US military history, and found 15,000 previously unreported civilian deaths. The logs show how US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct appears to be systematic and generally unpunished. Read more Related Entries October 20, 2010 ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Back in Effect October 20, 2010 Wars Will Cease When We Refuse to Fight
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It looks about like every other MSI 15.6-incher out there, but for those who prefer classy over vivacious, he GE603 might just be right down your alley. Designed primary as a multimedia laptop with the ability to handle a modest amount of demanding games, this here rig will be available with a Core i5-460M, i5-450M or i5-430M processor, NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 425M (1GB), HDMI and VGA outputs, a 320/500/640GB hard drive, a DVD burner, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and a foursome of USB 2.0 sockets. You’ll also find 802.11b/g/n WiFi, an ExpressCard reader, 5-in-1 card reader, gigabit Ethernet and up to 8GB of DDR3 memory. As you’d expect, Windows 7 is running the show, and the nine-cell Li-ion should keep it humming for at least a couple of hours. Per usual, MSI’s not serving up details regarding a price or release date, but we both know it’s aiming to have it on store shelves pre-Christmas. MSI brings Core i5, GeForce GT 425M to 15.6-inch GE603 laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Oct 2010 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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This story’s a month old, but gives you an idea of what Republicans and other legitimate voters are up against.
Continue reading …Uh, not really , Joe: Conservative groups have not dumped $200 billion in political ads on the heads of Democratic candidates. It evidently just feels that way to the White House. In an interview with Al Hunt of Bloomberg News scheduled to be shown Friday night, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. commented on the need for disclosure when corporate interests contribute to political groups. “I was amazed at the amount of money, this $200 billion of money that is — where there’s no accountability,” he said. “When I say accountability, we don’t know where it’s coming from. There’s no disclosure, so the folks watching the ad can’t make a judgment based upon motive when you say it’s paid for by so-and-so.” Mr. Biden clearly meant “million” with an “M,” not “billion” with a “B.” But his tongue slipped again a moment later. “So it really — I’ve never seen this before, so the only caveat I’d put in terms of the House is how much impact this $200 billion are going to mean.” Even if the GOP spent $200 billion it would be a drop in the bucket compared to the $800 billion Obama spent on a Porkulus bill that accomplished nothing. At least the GOP ads will generate actual results. And if he’s so worried about
Continue reading …Ballmer: next release of Windows will be Microsoft’s ‘riskiest product bet’ (video)
October 23, 2010 No Comment
Windows 7 might be a massive commercial success and an undeniably rock solid piece of software, but Microsoft is apparently unwilling to rest on those soft and cozy laurels. Asked about the riskiest product bet the Redmond crew is currently developing, its fearless leader Steve Ballmer took no time in answering “the next release of Windows.” His interviewers sadly failed to probe any deeper on the subject, but it might be notable that Steve calls it the next release rather than simply Windows 8, while the idea of it being risky also ties in with previous indications that Microsoft is aiming for a revolutionary leap between iterations. We’ll have to just be patient and wait for more on that, though if you’d like a peek at Steve dodging question on tablets and the potential for Windows Phone 7 appearing on them, you need only jump past the break for the video. Continue reading Ballmer: next release of Windows will be Microsoft’s ‘riskiest product bet’ (video) Ballmer: next release of Windows will be Microsoft’s ‘riskiest product bet’ (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Oct 2010 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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