Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Fascist America In Ten Steps
Fascist America, in 10 easy steps
From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms.
...
Tuesday April 24, 2007
The Guardian
Last autumn, there was a military coup in Thailand. The leaders of the coup took a number of steps, rather systematically, as if they had a shopping list. In a sense, they did. Within a matter of days, democracy had been closed down: the coup leaders declared martial law, sent armed soldiers into residential areas, took over radio and TV stations, issued restrictions on the press, tightened some limits on travel, and took certain activists into custody.
They were not figuring these things out as they went along. If you look at history, you can see that there is essentially a blueprint for turning an open society into a dictatorship. That blueprint has been used again and again in more and less bloody, more and less terrifying ways. But it is always effective. It is very difficult and arduous to create and sustain a democracy - but history shows that closing one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the 10 steps.
...
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
...
From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms.
...
Tuesday April 24, 2007
The Guardian
Last autumn, there was a military coup in Thailand. The leaders of the coup took a number of steps, rather systematically, as if they had a shopping list. In a sense, they did. Within a matter of days, democracy had been closed down: the coup leaders declared martial law, sent armed soldiers into residential areas, took over radio and TV stations, issued restrictions on the press, tightened some limits on travel, and took certain activists into custody.
They were not figuring these things out as they went along. If you look at history, you can see that there is essentially a blueprint for turning an open society into a dictatorship. That blueprint has been used again and again in more and less bloody, more and less terrifying ways. But it is always effective. It is very difficult and arduous to create and sustain a democracy - but history shows that closing one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the 10 steps.
...
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
...
Arrested For Videotaping Police
Video recording leads to felony charge
Posted by Matt Miller/The Patriot-News June 11, 2007 08:51AM
Brian D. Kelly didn't think he was doing anything illegal when he used his videocamera to record a Carlisle police officer during a traffic stop. Making movies is one of his hobbies, he said, and the stop was just another interesting event to film.
Now he's worried about going to prison or being burdened with a criminal record.
Kelly, 18, of Carlisle, was arrested on a felony wiretapping charge, with a penalty of up to 7 years in state prison.
His camera and film were seized by police during the May 24 stop, he said, and he spent 26 hours in Cumberland County Prison until his mother posted her house as security for his $2,500 bail.
Kelly is charged under a state law that bars the intentional interception or recording of anyone's oral conversation without their consent.
....
Posted by Matt Miller/The Patriot-News June 11, 2007 08:51AM
Brian D. Kelly didn't think he was doing anything illegal when he used his videocamera to record a Carlisle police officer during a traffic stop. Making movies is one of his hobbies, he said, and the stop was just another interesting event to film.
Now he's worried about going to prison or being burdened with a criminal record.
Kelly, 18, of Carlisle, was arrested on a felony wiretapping charge, with a penalty of up to 7 years in state prison.
His camera and film were seized by police during the May 24 stop, he said, and he spent 26 hours in Cumberland County Prison until his mother posted her house as security for his $2,500 bail.
Kelly is charged under a state law that bars the intentional interception or recording of anyone's oral conversation without their consent.
....
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Lake Disappears In Chile
Lake disappears suddenly in Chile
Scientists in Chile are investigating the sudden disappearance of a glacial lake in the south of the country.
When park rangers patrolled the area in the Magallanes region in March, the two-hectare (five-acre) lake was its normal size, officials say.
But last month they found a huge dry crater and several stranded chunks of ice that used to float on the water.
One theory is that an earthquake opened up a fissure in the ground, allowing the lake's water to drain through.
...
Scientists in Chile are investigating the sudden disappearance of a glacial lake in the south of the country.
When park rangers patrolled the area in the Magallanes region in March, the two-hectare (five-acre) lake was its normal size, officials say.
But last month they found a huge dry crater and several stranded chunks of ice that used to float on the water.
One theory is that an earthquake opened up a fissure in the ground, allowing the lake's water to drain through.
...
Heavy Metal Addiction
Man gets sick benefits for heavy metal addiction
Published: 19th June 2007 15:12 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/7650/
A Swedish heavy metal fan has had his musical preferences officially classified as a disability. The results of a psychological analysis enable the metal lover to supplement his income with state benefits.
...
"Some might say that I should grow up and learn to listen to other types of music but I can't. Heavy metal is my lifestyle," he said.
Published: 19th June 2007 15:12 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/7650/
A Swedish heavy metal fan has had his musical preferences officially classified as a disability. The results of a psychological analysis enable the metal lover to supplement his income with state benefits.
...
"Some might say that I should grow up and learn to listen to other types of music but I can't. Heavy metal is my lifestyle," he said.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Pie In The Sky
US Airways monthly e-Statement.
Take a moment to review your monthly e-Statement and learn about exclusive offers available only to Dividend Miles members.
News
* Fly First Class and enjoy pie from Four Points® by Sheraton
* Service to Dublin is now offered year-round
* You can now earn miles on Qatar Airways
Take a moment to review your monthly e-Statement and learn about exclusive offers available only to Dividend Miles members.
News
* Fly First Class and enjoy pie from Four Points® by Sheraton
* Service to Dublin is now offered year-round
* You can now earn miles on Qatar Airways
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone
In the Gulf of Mexico, several miles off the Louisiana coast, lies one of the world’s largest “dead zones" — oxygen-deprived areas devoid of all marine life. Researchers predict that this summer, the dead zone will grow to cover nearly 6,700 square miles, an area roughly half the size of Maryland, and far larger than its size in recent years of 4,800 square miles.
Worst of all, the dead zone is human-made: runoff from farms in the Midwest adds as much as 7.8 million pounds of nitrate fertilizer to the Mississippi River and its tributaries each day during peak loading periods, which then runs downriver and empties into the Gulf. As it does with plants grown on land, the nitrogen causes algae and plankton in the area to flourish, using all available oxygen in the water. The result is hypoxia, an oxygen depleted dead zone in which fish and other marine life simply cannot survive.
...
Worst of all, the dead zone is human-made: runoff from farms in the Midwest adds as much as 7.8 million pounds of nitrate fertilizer to the Mississippi River and its tributaries each day during peak loading periods, which then runs downriver and empties into the Gulf. As it does with plants grown on land, the nitrogen causes algae and plankton in the area to flourish, using all available oxygen in the water. The result is hypoxia, an oxygen depleted dead zone in which fish and other marine life simply cannot survive.
...
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Snail House For People
Personal, portable, SAR barrel.
The SNAIL SHELL SYSTEM is a low cost system that enables persons to move around, change their whereabouts and live in various environments.
The SNAIL SHELL SYSTEM is a low cost system that enables persons to move around, change their whereabouts and live in various environments.
Monday, June 04, 2007
No One Dies Alone
So they don't die alone
By Shari Roan, Times Staff Writer
June 4, 2007
Too many patients, too little time. Sandra Clarke, a nurse in Eugene, Ore., looked in on a patient not expected to live through the night. "Will you sit with me?" he asked.
Clark assured him that she would, but that first she had to check on her other patients. Ninety minutes later, she hurried back to the man's room — only to discover he had died.
"I felt like I had let him down," says Clarke, of Sacred Heart Medical Center. "Here you are in a high-tech world in medicine and he only asked for something very simple. It seemed so wrong to me. I felt guilty and frustrated. It wasn't that anyone had done anything wrong. But it wasn't done right."
Those feelings of responsibility and compassion — from Clarke and from other patient advocates — have given birth to a movement spreading to U.S. hospitals across the nation. The goal: to ensure every patient has a fellow human being at his or her bedside at the time of death.
Among the efforts is No One Dies Alone, a program Clarke later helped create. The program, begun in 2001, relies on volunteers to sit with terminally ill patients and has since spread to several hundred hospitals, including St. Joseph Hospital in Orange and its sister institution Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo. St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica will launch the program this month.
One of the oldest such programs, Twilight Brigade, Compassion in Action, specifically serves veterans at Veterans Affairs hospitals and nursing homes across the country.
And Sacred Dying, begun in 2000 in San Francisco, trains organizations such as hospices and churches how to provide a spiritual atmosphere for people who might otherwise die alone.
...
By Shari Roan, Times Staff Writer
June 4, 2007
Too many patients, too little time. Sandra Clarke, a nurse in Eugene, Ore., looked in on a patient not expected to live through the night. "Will you sit with me?" he asked.
Clark assured him that she would, but that first she had to check on her other patients. Ninety minutes later, she hurried back to the man's room — only to discover he had died.
"I felt like I had let him down," says Clarke, of Sacred Heart Medical Center. "Here you are in a high-tech world in medicine and he only asked for something very simple. It seemed so wrong to me. I felt guilty and frustrated. It wasn't that anyone had done anything wrong. But it wasn't done right."
Those feelings of responsibility and compassion — from Clarke and from other patient advocates — have given birth to a movement spreading to U.S. hospitals across the nation. The goal: to ensure every patient has a fellow human being at his or her bedside at the time of death.
Among the efforts is No One Dies Alone, a program Clarke later helped create. The program, begun in 2001, relies on volunteers to sit with terminally ill patients and has since spread to several hundred hospitals, including St. Joseph Hospital in Orange and its sister institution Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo. St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica will launch the program this month.
One of the oldest such programs, Twilight Brigade, Compassion in Action, specifically serves veterans at Veterans Affairs hospitals and nursing homes across the country.
And Sacred Dying, begun in 2000 in San Francisco, trains organizations such as hospices and churches how to provide a spiritual atmosphere for people who might otherwise die alone.
...
Twice as Efficient as Generators
Breakthrough Fuel Cell, Twice as Efficient as Generators
Acumentrics Corporation, a leading developer of solid-oxide fuel cells and uninterruptible power supplies, has won a 2007 New England Innovation Award from SBANE, the Smaller Business Alliance of New England for their novel solid oxide fuel cell.
Acumentrics manufactures 5000-watt solid oxide fuel cell systems (SOFC) for power applications. They are also developing combined-heat-and-power units (which are like boilers that produce electricity) for the home market. In 2000 they acquired a novel fuel cell technology. Since then, they have increased the output of a single fuel cell tube from 1 watt to 60 watts. Today they have over 30 units working in the field, including ones that power visitor’s centers at Exit Glacier National Park in Alaska, and Cuyahoga National Park in Ohio.
...
Acumentrics’ AHEAD: Residential Fuel Cell Heat & Power System
Think AHEAD: Distributed Power Generation for Homeowners
Imagine a furnace that makes electricity, too. The Acumentrics AHEAD (click on link for specifications) is just that. The AHEAD uses fuel cells to generate heat and power for the home, with peak demands being handled by the grid or batteries. It runs off municipal gas or propane. This combined-heat-and-power unit (micro-CHP) can even meter excess electricity back to the grid. On-site generation has never been more clean, quiet, or secure.
Not yet sold for general availability; evaluations for qualified partners only.
Acumentrics Corporation, a leading developer of solid-oxide fuel cells and uninterruptible power supplies, has won a 2007 New England Innovation Award from SBANE, the Smaller Business Alliance of New England for their novel solid oxide fuel cell.
Acumentrics manufactures 5000-watt solid oxide fuel cell systems (SOFC) for power applications. They are also developing combined-heat-and-power units (which are like boilers that produce electricity) for the home market. In 2000 they acquired a novel fuel cell technology. Since then, they have increased the output of a single fuel cell tube from 1 watt to 60 watts. Today they have over 30 units working in the field, including ones that power visitor’s centers at Exit Glacier National Park in Alaska, and Cuyahoga National Park in Ohio.
...
Acumentrics’ AHEAD: Residential Fuel Cell Heat & Power System
Think AHEAD: Distributed Power Generation for Homeowners
Imagine a furnace that makes electricity, too. The Acumentrics AHEAD (click on link for specifications) is just that. The AHEAD uses fuel cells to generate heat and power for the home, with peak demands being handled by the grid or batteries. It runs off municipal gas or propane. This combined-heat-and-power unit (micro-CHP) can even meter excess electricity back to the grid. On-site generation has never been more clean, quiet, or secure.
Not yet sold for general availability; evaluations for qualified partners only.
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