Fun with a 15 Ton Loader
Skills with a 15 Ton Loader - YouTube
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
BBC News - Contaminated water leaks from Fukushima nuclear plant
BBC
5 December 2011 Last updated at 07:40 ET
5 December 2011 Last updated at 07:40 ET
Contaminated water leaks from Fukushima nuclear plant
Tepco said the water leak at the treatment system was found on Sunday morning
Contaminated water has leaked from a treatment system at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, with some potentially entering the sea, the plant's operator says.
Workers found the leak - caused by a crack in a concrete foundation - on Sunday morning.
Tepco said some 45 cubic metres (1,590 cubic feet) of water had escaped before sandbags blocked the leak.
....BBC News - Contaminated water leaks from Fukushima nuclear plant
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Google: An explanation of our search results
Google: An explanation of our search results
If you recently used Google to search for the word “Jew,” you may have seen results that were very disturbing. We assure you that the views expressed by the sites in your results are not in any way endorsed by Google. We’d like to explain why you’re seeing these results when you conduct this search.
A site’s ranking in Google’s search results relies heavily on computer algorithms using thousands of factors to calculate a page’s relevance to a given query. Sometimes subtleties of language cause anomalies to appear that cannot be predicted. A search for “Jew” brings up one such unexpected result.
If you use Google to search for “Judaism,” “Jewish” or “Jewish people,” the results are informative and relevant. So why is a search for “Jew” different? One reason is that the word “Jew” is often used in an anti-Semitic context. Jewish organizations are more likely to use the word “Jewish” when talking about members of their faith. The word has become somewhat charged linguistically, as noted on websites devoted to Jewish topics such as these:
Someone searching for information on Jewish people would be more likely to enter terms like “Judaism,” “Jewish people,” or “Jews” than the single word “Jew” In fact, prior to this incident, the word “Jew” only appeared about once in every 10 million search queries. Now it’s likely that the great majority of searches on Google for “Jew” are by people who have heard about this issue and want to see the results for themselves.
The beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google, as well as the opinions of the general public, do not determine or impact our search results. Individual citizens and public interest groups do periodically urge us to remove particular links or otherwise adjust search results. Although Google reserves the right to address such requests individually, Google views the comprehensiveness of our search results as an extremely important priority. Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it. We will, however, remove pages from our results if we believe the page (or its site) violates our Webmaster Guidelines, if we believe we are required to do so by law, or at the request of the webmaster who is responsible for the page.
We apologize for the upsetting nature of the experience you had using Google and appreciate your taking the time to inform us about it.
Sincerely,
The Google Team
P.S. You may be interested in some additional information the Anti-Defamation League has posted about this issue at http://www.adl.org/rumors/google_search_rumors.asp. In addition, we call your attention to Google’s search results on this topic.
©2011 Google
Google: An explanation of our search results
Sunday, November 27, 2011
5 Logical Fallacies That Make You Wrong More Than You Think | Cracked.com
5 Logical Fallacies That Make You Wrong More Than You Think
Kathy Benjamin, CRACKED Staff, Karl Smallwood.... 5 Logical Fallacies That Make You Wrong More Than You Think | Cracked.com
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Can a Playground Be Too Safe? - NYTimes.com
Can a Playground Be Too Safe?
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: July 18, 2011
When seesaws and tall slides and other perils were disappearing from New York’s playgrounds, Henry Stern drew a line in the sandbox. As the city’s parks commissioner in the 1990s, he issued an edict concerning the 10-foot-high jungle gym near his childhood home in northern Manhattan.
“I grew up on the monkey bars in Fort Tryon Park, and I never forgot how good it felt to get to the top of them,” Mr. Stern said. “I didn’t want to see that playground bowdlerized. I said that as long as I was parks commissioner, those monkey bars were going to stay.”
His philosophy seemed reactionary at the time, but today it’s shared by some researchers who question the value of safety-first playgrounds. Even if children do suffer fewer physical injuries — and the evidence for that is debatable — the critics say that these playgrounds may stunt emotional development, leaving children with anxieties and fears that are ultimately worse than a broken bone.
Can a Playground Be Too Safe? - NYTimes.com
Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport by George Washington
Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport by George Washington
Gentlemen:
While I received with much satisfaction your address replete with expressions of esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced on my visit to Newport from all classes of citizens.
The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security.
If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good government, to become a great and happy people.
The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy—a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity.
May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.
May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.
G. Washington
Washington's Letter
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
AP IMPACT: Foreign insects, diseases got into US - Yahoo! News
AP IMPACT: Foreign insects, diseases got into US
By TRACIE CONE - Associated Press | AP – 7 hrs agoFRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Dozens of foreign insects and plant diseases slipped undetected into the United States in the years after 9/11, when authorities were so focused on preventing another attack that they overlooked a pest explosion that threatened the quality of the nation's food supply.
At the time, hundreds of agricultural scientists responsible for stopping invasive species at the border were reassigned to anti-terrorism duties in the newly formed Homeland Security Department — a move that scientists say cost billions of dollars in crop damage and eradication efforts from California vineyards to Florida citrus groves.
The consequences come home to consumers in the form of higher grocery prices, substandard produce and the risk of environmental damage from chemicals needed to combat the pests.
.... AP IMPACT: Foreign insects, diseases got into US - Yahoo! NewsThursday, October 06, 2011
Last American Who Knew What The Fuck He Was Doing Dies | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Last American Who Knew What The Fuck He Was Doing Dies
Last American Who Knew What The Fuck He Was Doing Dies | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Thursday, September 08, 2011
How the Feds reacted as 9/11 unfolded
How the Feds reacted as 9/11 unfolded
By Sebastian Smith | AFP"Did you just say somethin' hit the World Trade Center?" an incredulous military official asked shortly after the beginning of America's terrorism nightmare on September 11, 2001.
Minutes later, with air traffic authorities warning that another commercial jet was off course and just six miles (10 kilometers) from the White House, Washington ground control sounded in denial, saying it was "probably just a rumor."
Moments later American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the Pentagon.
The stunned reactions by authorities to first reports about 9/11, in the full exchanges between ground control, pilots and military authorities during the hijacking chaos of 10 years ago were made public Thursday. They illustrate just how unprepared the United States was for the audacious plot.
.... Newly released tapes reveal full 9/11 air horror - Yahoo! NewsSaturday, September 03, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The Annals of Extreme Surgery - NYTimes.com
NYT Op-Ed
The Annals of Extreme Surgery
By BARRON H. LERNER
Published: August 29, 2011
THE heat is on again in the world of cancer treatment, both literally and figuratively.More and more doctors are now using an extremely aggressive procedure to treat certain colorectal and ovarian cancers called Hipec, in which patients first undergo surgery to remove any visible cancer, then have heated chemotherapy pumped into the abdominal cavity for 90 minutes to kill any remaining cells.
Although it has given some patients hope, there is almost no evidence that the treatment is more effective than traditional chemotherapy — besides one small trial in the Netherlands over a decade ago that did show a benefit, but in which 8 percent of the participants died from the procedure itself.
The Annals of Extreme Surgery - NYTimes.comFriday, August 26, 2011
Dr. King Weeps From His Grave - NYT Op-Ed
NYT Op-Ed Contributor
Dr. King Weeps From His Grave
By CORNEL WESTPublished: August 25, 2011
Princeton, N.J.
THE Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was to be dedicated on the National Mall on Sunday — exactly 56 years after the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi and 48 years after the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (Because of Hurricane Irene, the ceremony has been postponed.)
These events constitute major milestones in the turbulent history of race and democracy in America, and the undeniable success of the civil rights movement — culminating in the election of Barack Obama in 2008 — warrants our attention and elation. Yet the prophetic words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel still haunt us: “The whole future of America depends on the impact and influence of Dr. King.”
Rabbi Heschel spoke those words during the last years of King’s life, when 72 percent of whites and 55 percent of blacks disapproved of King’s opposition to the Vietnam War and his efforts to eradicate poverty in America. King’s dream of a more democratic America had become, in his words, “a nightmare,” owing to the persistence of “racism, poverty, militarism and materialism.” He called America a “sick society.” On the Sunday after his assassination, in 1968, he was to have preached a sermon titled “Why America May Go to Hell.”
.... Martin Luther King Jr. Would Want a Revolution, Not a Memorial - NYTimes.comWednesday, August 24, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Penn Jillette: I don't know, so I'm an atheist libertarian - CNN.com
I don't know, so I'm an atheist libertarian
August 16, 2011 4:24 p.m. EDT
(CNN) -- I try to claim that I was friends with the genius Richard Feynman. He came to our show a few times and was very complimentary, and I had dinner with him a couple times, and we chatted on the phone several times. I'd call him to get quick tutoring on physics so I could pretend to read his books.
No matter how much I want to brag, it's overstating it to call him a friend. I would never have called him to help me move a couch. I did, however, call him once to ask how we could score some liquid nitrogen for a Letterman spot we wanted to do. He was the only physicist I knew at the time. He explained patiently that he didn't know. He was a theoretical physicist and I needed a hands-on guy, but he'd try to find one for me.
About a half-hour later a physics teacher from a community college in Brooklyn called me and said, "I don't know what kind of practical joke this is, but a Nobel Prize-winning scientist just called me here at the community college, gave me this number, and told me to call Penn of Penn & Teller to help with a Letterman appearance."
.... Penn Jillette: I don't know, so I'm an atheist libertarian - CNN.comMonday, August 08, 2011
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