Random thoughts from an Internet island...
...the inquiry was prompted by a highspeed crash in August in California of a Lexus barreling out of control. As the vehicle hit speeds exceeding 120 mph, family members made a frantic 911 call and said the accelerator was stuck and they couldn't stop the vehicle. via news.yahoo.com This is Toyota's largest recall ever, affecting several years of Toyota and Lexus models. More details at the above link. If in doubt, remove the driver's floor mat from your vehicle.
The statement... defended [the Vatican's] record by claiming that "available research" showed that only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse. [Also,] ...most US churches being hit by child sex abuse allegations were Protestant and that sexual abuse within Jewish communities was common. via guardian.co.uk So there you go. The Vatican says its handling of its paedophilia crisis is not really an issue because: it "only" involves 1.5-5% of the clergy Other religions do it just as bad. Are...
via environmentalgraffiti.com Great examples of achieving perceived size differences through perspective, not software manipulation. More examples at the above link.
via englishrussia.com ...this one was abandoned long before the USSR collapse, it was doomed to be abandoned from the beginning. It was built by a personal Stalin’s order in the middle of nowhere...
An optimist might hope that my doctor, or someone higher up in the health care hierarchy, made a rational cost-benefit calculation on society’s behalf. To figure out whether my treatment makes sense, one would have to weigh the cost of the drug against the benefit of an extended life. And to do that, one would have to put a dollar value on my life — the kind of calculation that makes everyone but economists squirm. via nytimes.com Great article. I believe health care reform is needed, but am not so naïve...
In one recent poll, a certain number of Americans said that now that they've heard the Interstate is a socialist nightmare, they want no part of it. via buffalobeast.com Funny stuff. It'd be nice if it caused a few people to think more critically about the rhetoric being slung around these days. Sadly, the people who need it most probably won't see themselves in the article. There are reasonable concerns about healthcare reform; the garbage talk about socialism is not one of them.
["All Blues"] has the same feel as the other blues tunes, but listen closely: The horns, blowing harmony in the background, are playing the same notes in each bar; they're not shifting them to follow the chord changes; there are no chord changes. It sounds (hence the album's title) kind of blue. via slate.com This year is the 50th anniversary of Kind of Blue. The album transcends its genre, as all classic works do. It's one of my favorites. The linked article is a great read describing why it was such a change...
via digital-photography-school.com Take a camera that can capture infrared light, put an IR filter on it, and achieve some amazing results. Since a lot of light is blocked you'll need long shutter times and a tripod, but look at the photos you can get. Visit the above link to see more.
via oddee.com The most prominent feature in the image is a ring with dozens of bright spots. A shock wave of material unleashed by the stellar blast is slamming into regions along the ring's inner regions, heating them up, and causing them to glow. There is plenty of natural beauty here on earth, but for even more allure look up to the skies. Nine more at the above link, some of which can be viewed with amateur telescopes.
via jokemail.blogspot.com Mom always liked you best.
Congratulations, Derek Jeter, for eclipsing the great Lou Gehrig's all-time Yankees hits mark. What really strikes me is the names on the list of their all-time leaders. It's as if everyone synonymous with baseball played for these guys. Sure, every team has an absolute standout or two they can name (Musial for St. Louis, Yastrzemski for Boston, Robinson for Brooklyn, etc.), but it seems as if the Yankees roster is a who's who of this stuff. It's no wonder they're the most loved and hated team in baseball.
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