A man has been killed in a machete attack and two suspects shot by police in Woolwich, south-east London.
Prime Minister David Cameron said there were "strong indications that it is a terrorist incident" and the UK would "never buckle" in the face of such attacks.
Footage has emerged showing a man wielding a bloodied meat cleaver and making political statements.
There are unconfirmed reports that the dead man was a soldier.
( Read more...Collapse )
Source
Prime Minister David Cameron said there were "strong indications that it is a terrorist incident" and the UK would "never buckle" in the face of such attacks.
Footage has emerged showing a man wielding a bloodied meat cleaver and making political statements.
There are unconfirmed reports that the dead man was a soldier.
( Read more...Collapse )
Source
Climate Change still a Myth. Still No Evidence of Climate Shift Change to be Manmade.
Alex Jones Explains How Government "Weather Weapon" Could Have Been Behind Oklahoma Tornado
The Government "Can Create And Steer Groups Of Tornadoes," But Jones Isn't Sure That Happened In Oklahoma
Conspiracy theorist radio host Alex Jones explained to his audience today how the government could have been behind the devastating May 20 tornado in Oklahoma.
On the May 21 edition of The Alex Jones Show, a caller asked Jones whether he was planning to cover how government technology may be behind a recent spate of sinkholes. After laying out how insurance companies use weather modification to avoid having to pay ski resorts for lack of snow, Jones said that "of course there's weather weapon stuff going on -- we had floods in Texas like fifteen years ago, killed thirty-something people in one night. Turned out it was the Air Force."
Following a long tangent, Jones returned to the caller's subject. While he explained that "natural tornadoes" do exist and that he's not sure if a government "weather weapon" was involved in the Oklahoma disaster, Jones warned nonetheless that the government "can create and steer groups of tornadoes."
According to Jones, this possibility hinges on whether people spotted helicopters and small aircraft "in and around the clouds, spraying and doing things." He added, "if you saw that, you better bet your bottom dollar they did this, but who knows if they did. You know, that's the thing, we don't know."
In April, Jones garnered attention for labeling the Boston Marathon bombings a "false flag" event staged by the U.S. government. Over the years, Jones has endorsed a wide array of paranoid conspiracies, including alleging that the U.S. government carried out or was somehow involved in the 9-11 attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing, and recent mass shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary school and the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.
Despite his well-publicized career of pushing conspiracies, Jones is regularly validated by media figures and conservative politicians. Jones' biggest ally has been Matt Drudge, whose heavily trafficked Drudge Report website has linked to at least 244 different articles at Jones' Infowars website since April 2011.
In the midst of the controversy over Jones' comments about the Boston bombings, Drudge announced that he had "privately told friends" that 2013 would be the "year of Alex Jones."
Alex Jones Explains How Government "Weather Weapon" Could Have Been Behind Oklahoma Tornado
The Government "Can Create And Steer Groups Of Tornadoes," But Jones Isn't Sure That Happened In Oklahoma
Conspiracy theorist radio host Alex Jones explained to his audience today how the government could have been behind the devastating May 20 tornado in Oklahoma.
On the May 21 edition of The Alex Jones Show, a caller asked Jones whether he was planning to cover how government technology may be behind a recent spate of sinkholes. After laying out how insurance companies use weather modification to avoid having to pay ski resorts for lack of snow, Jones said that "of course there's weather weapon stuff going on -- we had floods in Texas like fifteen years ago, killed thirty-something people in one night. Turned out it was the Air Force."
Following a long tangent, Jones returned to the caller's subject. While he explained that "natural tornadoes" do exist and that he's not sure if a government "weather weapon" was involved in the Oklahoma disaster, Jones warned nonetheless that the government "can create and steer groups of tornadoes."
According to Jones, this possibility hinges on whether people spotted helicopters and small aircraft "in and around the clouds, spraying and doing things." He added, "if you saw that, you better bet your bottom dollar they did this, but who knows if they did. You know, that's the thing, we don't know."
In April, Jones garnered attention for labeling the Boston Marathon bombings a "false flag" event staged by the U.S. government. Over the years, Jones has endorsed a wide array of paranoid conspiracies, including alleging that the U.S. government carried out or was somehow involved in the 9-11 attacks, the Oklahoma City bombing, and recent mass shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary school and the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.
Despite his well-publicized career of pushing conspiracies, Jones is regularly validated by media figures and conservative politicians. Jones' biggest ally has been Matt Drudge, whose heavily trafficked Drudge Report website has linked to at least 244 different articles at Jones' Infowars website since April 2011.
In the midst of the controversy over Jones' comments about the Boston bombings, Drudge announced that he had "privately told friends" that 2013 would be the "year of Alex Jones."
A new academic study confirms that front groups with longstanding ties to the tobacco industry and the billionaire Koch brothers planned the formation of the Tea Party movement more than a decade before it exploded onto the U.S. political scene.
Far from a genuine grassroots uprising, this astroturf effort was curated by wealthy industrialists years in advance. Many of the anti-science operatives who defended cigarettes are currently deploying their tobacco-inspired playbook internationally to evade accountability for the fossil fuel industry's role in driving climate disruption.
The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institute of Health, traces the roots of the Tea Party's anti-tax movement back to the early 1980s when tobacco companies began to invest in third party groups to fight excise taxes on cigarettes, as well as health studies finding a link between cancer and secondhand cigarette smoke.
Published in the peer-reviewed academic journal, Tobacco Control, the study titled, 'To quarterback behind the scenes, third party efforts: the tobacco industry and the Tea Party,' is not just an historical account of activities in a bygone era. As senior author, Stanton Glantz, a University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) professor of medicine, writes:
"Nonprofit organizations associated with the Tea Party have longstanding ties to tobacco companies, and continue to advocate on behalf of the tobacco industry's anti-tax, anti-regulation agenda."
( The two main organizations are Americans for Prosperity and Freedomworks...Collapse )
Source article.
Abstract for the paper, and the paper itself in html or pdf.
This is back from February but it's still interesting. I didn't know the tea party was expanding internationally.
Edited to remove privacy lock on post.
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of London's prestigious Chelsea Flower Show, the august members of the Royal Horticultural Society have decided this year to relax their century-old ban and for the first time allow the "little people" into the show—garden gnomes, that is, those tacky little statues of short bearded men with pointy hats.
Ever since the Chelsea Flower Show began, in 1913, organizers have rigorously excluded garden gnomes—and any and all such "brightly colored mythical creatures," from the exhibits. But in a break with tradition, as well as to raise money for the society's nationwide Campaign for School Gardening, gnomes will be made welcome.
A hundred of them, painted and decorated by celebrities such as Dame Helen Mirren, Joanna Lumley, and Elton John, will be making appearances among the greenery. Afterward they will be auctioned off on eBay, with the money going toward the RHS's programs to teach gardening in more than 16,000 schools around the country.
"I think it is a wonderful idea," says English garden historian Twigs Way, author of Garden Gnomes: A History. "Word that garden gnomes were going to be allowed in this year's Chelsea Flower Show has opened up a marvelous debate about what gardening is really supposed to be about. After all, we are a nation of gardeners, and for many of us, garden gnomes epitomize the great social divide on garden design. And now the social barrier has been broken, even if it is only for just this one season."
Tacky or Treasure?
Indeed, in class-conscious Britain garden gnomes are seen as strictly for the masses, nothing an upper-crust gardener would dream of having on his or her turf. In this nation of gardeners, radio talk shows have been sounding out their listeners on the subject, and countless column inches have appeared in the newspapers.
( Read more...Collapse )
Ever since the Chelsea Flower Show began, in 1913, organizers have rigorously excluded garden gnomes—and any and all such "brightly colored mythical creatures," from the exhibits. But in a break with tradition, as well as to raise money for the society's nationwide Campaign for School Gardening, gnomes will be made welcome.
A hundred of them, painted and decorated by celebrities such as Dame Helen Mirren, Joanna Lumley, and Elton John, will be making appearances among the greenery. Afterward they will be auctioned off on eBay, with the money going toward the RHS's programs to teach gardening in more than 16,000 schools around the country.
"I think it is a wonderful idea," says English garden historian Twigs Way, author of Garden Gnomes: A History. "Word that garden gnomes were going to be allowed in this year's Chelsea Flower Show has opened up a marvelous debate about what gardening is really supposed to be about. After all, we are a nation of gardeners, and for many of us, garden gnomes epitomize the great social divide on garden design. And now the social barrier has been broken, even if it is only for just this one season."
Tacky or Treasure?
Indeed, in class-conscious Britain garden gnomes are seen as strictly for the masses, nothing an upper-crust gardener would dream of having on his or her turf. In this nation of gardeners, radio talk shows have been sounding out their listeners on the subject, and countless column inches have appeared in the newspapers.
( Read more...Collapse )
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2
The fitness-for-work test used to determine whether hundreds of thousands of people are eligible to claim sickness benefits substantially disadvantages people with mental health conditions, a court has ruled, in a decision hailed as a victory by mental health charities.
A tribunal judge ruled that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had breached its duties to make "reasonable adjustments" under the Equality Act to ensure that people with mental health problems are treated fairly by the system.
( Read more...Collapse )
There was no decision on how the DWP should rectify the situation, and there will be further hearings. Lawyers for the DWP were planning to appeal.
The fitness-for-work test used to determine whether hundreds of thousands of people are eligible to claim sickness benefits substantially disadvantages people with mental health conditions, a court has ruled, in a decision hailed as a victory by mental health charities.
A tribunal judge ruled that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had breached its duties to make "reasonable adjustments" under the Equality Act to ensure that people with mental health problems are treated fairly by the system.
( Read more...Collapse )
There was no decision on how the DWP should rectify the situation, and there will be further hearings. Lawyers for the DWP were planning to appeal.
A landmark legal case may finally put a stop to almost half a century of bizarre medical procedures in the United States, where children's genitals have been surgically altered to fit a standardized definition of the proper sizes for penises and clitorises.
South Carolina couple Mark and Pam Crawford adopted their son M.C. when he was 19 months old, after he had been the ward of the state for a few months. Before his adoption, M.C.'s doctors and social workers decided that the infant's penis was too small or ambiguous, and determined that the best course of action was plastic surgery that would make his genitals look female. There was absolutely no medical cause for the surgery. It was purely cosmetic. Now, M.C. is 8 years old and has told his parents that he wants to be a boy. But before he was able to make this decision, doctors had surgically altered him in a way that has already caused him grief and confusion.
The Crawfords are suing the South Carolina Department of Social Services, Greenville Hospital, and Medical University of South Carolina for gross negligence and medical malpractice. According to CNN:
The suit says the surgery violated the 14th Amendment, which says that no state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law."
( Read more...Collapse )
Source.
South Carolina couple Mark and Pam Crawford adopted their son M.C. when he was 19 months old, after he had been the ward of the state for a few months. Before his adoption, M.C.'s doctors and social workers decided that the infant's penis was too small or ambiguous, and determined that the best course of action was plastic surgery that would make his genitals look female. There was absolutely no medical cause for the surgery. It was purely cosmetic. Now, M.C. is 8 years old and has told his parents that he wants to be a boy. But before he was able to make this decision, doctors had surgically altered him in a way that has already caused him grief and confusion.
The Crawfords are suing the South Carolina Department of Social Services, Greenville Hospital, and Medical University of South Carolina for gross negligence and medical malpractice. According to CNN:
The suit says the surgery violated the 14th Amendment, which says that no state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law."
( Read more...Collapse )
Source.
Charles Q. Choi, Oldest Water on Earth Found Deep Underground, LiveScience.com, 15 May 2013 (Photo at Source)
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A pocket of water some 2.6 billion years old — the most ancient pocket of water known by far, older even than the dawn of multicellular life — has now been discovered in a mine 2 miles below the Earth's surface.
The finding, announced in the May 16 issue of the journal Nature, raises the tantalizing possibility that ancient life might be found deep underground not only within Earth, but in similar oases that may exist on Mars, the scientists who studied the water said.
Geoscientist Barbara Sherwood Lollar at the University of Toronto and her colleagues have investigated deep mines across the world since the 1980s. Water can flow into fractures in rocks and become isolated deep in the crust for many years, serving as a time capsule of what their environments were like at the time they were sealed off.
In gold mines in South Africa 1.7 miles (2.8 kilometers) deep, the scientists previously discovered microbes could survive in pockets of water isolated for tens of millions of years. These reservoirs were many times saltier than seawater, "and had chemistry in many ways similar to hydrothermal vents on the bottom of the ocean, full of dissolved hydrogen and other chemicals capable of supporting life," Sherwood Lollar said.
( Read the Rest of the ArticleCollapse )
--
A pocket of water some 2.6 billion years old — the most ancient pocket of water known by far, older even than the dawn of multicellular life — has now been discovered in a mine 2 miles below the Earth's surface.
The finding, announced in the May 16 issue of the journal Nature, raises the tantalizing possibility that ancient life might be found deep underground not only within Earth, but in similar oases that may exist on Mars, the scientists who studied the water said.
Geoscientist Barbara Sherwood Lollar at the University of Toronto and her colleagues have investigated deep mines across the world since the 1980s. Water can flow into fractures in rocks and become isolated deep in the crust for many years, serving as a time capsule of what their environments were like at the time they were sealed off.
In gold mines in South Africa 1.7 miles (2.8 kilometers) deep, the scientists previously discovered microbes could survive in pockets of water isolated for tens of millions of years. These reservoirs were many times saltier than seawater, "and had chemistry in many ways similar to hydrothermal vents on the bottom of the ocean, full of dissolved hydrogen and other chemicals capable of supporting life," Sherwood Lollar said.
( Read the Rest of the ArticleCollapse )
Here is some news that the conservative critics of Venezuela's leftist government will not publicize. The Chavistas announced that a new labour law, part of which will grant recognition to non-salaried work traditionally done by women, will come into effect this week. Full-time mothers will now be able to collect a pension.
While there are a number of criticisms to be made of the Venezuelan government, the genius of the Bolivarian process is that it combines numerous forms of struggle against inequality. The most obvious lies in its commitment to economic redistribution, and measured by the Gini co-efficient, Venezuela has the lowest rate of inequality in Latin America. An equally significant form of struggle against inequality, however, lies in its pursuit of gender equity.
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Source
OP: Wow. What does everyone think about this? I'll just comment with my thoughts, since I have a lot of them.
While there are a number of criticisms to be made of the Venezuelan government, the genius of the Bolivarian process is that it combines numerous forms of struggle against inequality. The most obvious lies in its commitment to economic redistribution, and measured by the Gini co-efficient, Venezuela has the lowest rate of inequality in Latin America. An equally significant form of struggle against inequality, however, lies in its pursuit of gender equity.
( Cut for lengthCollapse )
Source
OP: Wow. What does everyone think about this? I'll just comment with my thoughts, since I have a lot of them.
Artists Recommended in the AB December 2012 Monthy Positive Feedback Post
http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/63
http://artists-beware.livejournal.com/63
EDIT: The artist contacted me today and said they will refund half the price, as well as send me the SAI file due to the fact that their health issues are becoming bad (apparently they are doing this for a lot of their other commissions). I've agreed to this and I'm happy I didn't have to take this further :) Thanks for all the great comments!!
-------------------
FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE ARTIST, FOR NOW, I WILL JUST SAY "ARTIST" BECAUSE I'M NOT SURE IF I WANT TO POST A BEWARE OR NOT.
Okay...so there is an artist that I've adored since I started getting into online art-looking...and said artist recently came back after years of absence, so of course I started stalking that artist! I have been struggling with a ref sketch I did of my fursona and had been watching the artist on a livestream type site. I asked for their opinion of anatomy and coloring, because I have always been IN LOVE with the coloring style of this artist. That being said, the artist offered to color and touch up on the anatomy of my picture for $15!! It was like a dream come freaking true!! And maybe I should have realized that from the start.
So, knowing that
1) it is a $15 commission
2) the artist has a lot of health issues
3) I know it takes awhile to do great art in general
4) did I mention it was only a $15 commission?
I knew it would take awhile. But the thing is, I paid the artist on Dec 9, 2012. We kept up for awhile, I'd go and watch the artist draw when I was able, and all was honkey dory. To make things easier, I was even willing to change my character's hair design because, despite the fact that I wanted it a certain way, I had waited so long on things to progress (and they progressed quickly at first, then came to a screeching hault) that I was willing to do whatever just to get things moving along. Even though I really really didn't want to have to change my character design for a commission I paid for ($15 or not). So whatever, we decided on that....then apparently the artist flattened the image??? I get that. I understand things happen. But the artist did that 3 months ago...and I haven't seen any progress since. I haven't heard from the artist in 3 months. And I've sent numerous messages on both the artist's FA and tumblr. And I know they've been on it since then...but still no answer. All I want is a screen shot, or to be told they can't do it and refund. But how long do I need to wait before getting more upset?? I've been very patient, understanding, and tried not to be too pushy. But today I finally asked if there would be any update, or if we should talk about a refund.
I REALLY REALLY REALLY don't want to have to post an artist-beware, but I saw on their FA where someone else had noted that their lack of correspondence was becoming a worry. I love this artist, and I always have, and I'd hate to be the one to be targeted for calling them out...but when do I say enough is enough?
-------------------
FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE ARTIST, FOR NOW, I WILL JUST SAY "ARTIST" BECAUSE I'M NOT SURE IF I WANT TO POST A BEWARE OR NOT.
Okay...so there is an artist that I've adored since I started getting into online art-looking...and said artist recently came back after years of absence, so of course I started stalking that artist! I have been struggling with a ref sketch I did of my fursona and had been watching the artist on a livestream type site. I asked for their opinion of anatomy and coloring, because I have always been IN LOVE with the coloring style of this artist. That being said, the artist offered to color and touch up on the anatomy of my picture for $15!! It was like a dream come freaking true!! And maybe I should have realized that from the start.
So, knowing that
1) it is a $15 commission
2) the artist has a lot of health issues
3) I know it takes awhile to do great art in general
4) did I mention it was only a $15 commission?
I knew it would take awhile. But the thing is, I paid the artist on Dec 9, 2012. We kept up for awhile, I'd go and watch the artist draw when I was able, and all was honkey dory. To make things easier, I was even willing to change my character's hair design because, despite the fact that I wanted it a certain way, I had waited so long on things to progress (and they progressed quickly at first, then came to a screeching hault) that I was willing to do whatever just to get things moving along. Even though I really really didn't want to have to change my character design for a commission I paid for ($15 or not). So whatever, we decided on that....then apparently the artist flattened the image??? I get that. I understand things happen. But the artist did that 3 months ago...and I haven't seen any progress since. I haven't heard from the artist in 3 months. And I've sent numerous messages on both the artist's FA and tumblr. And I know they've been on it since then...but still no answer. All I want is a screen shot, or to be told they can't do it and refund. But how long do I need to wait before getting more upset?? I've been very patient, understanding, and tried not to be too pushy. But today I finally asked if there would be any update, or if we should talk about a refund.
I REALLY REALLY REALLY don't want to have to post an artist-beware, but I saw on their FA where someone else had noted that their lack of correspondence was becoming a worry. I love this artist, and I always have, and I'd hate to be the one to be targeted for calling them out...but when do I say enough is enough?
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