Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
ICONS
1852 Uncle Sam cartoon figure made its debut in the New York Lantern weekly.
WAR!
2003 U.S. officials said President Bush might delay a vote on his troubled United Nations resolution or even drop it - and fight Iraq without the international body's backing.
DISASTER
1895 Spanish cruiser Reina Regente sinks off Gibraltar, 402 die.
1928 Hundreds of people died when the San Francisquito Valley in California was inundated with water after the St. Francis Dam burst just before midnight the evening of March 12.
1961 Landslide in USSR, kills 145.
1992 570 die in a Turkish earthquake.
1994 Oil tank/airship crash at Bosporus (huge fire/15+ killed).
ATTEMPTS
1915 Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson tries to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane, but the pilot substituted a grapefruit.
PATENTS
1887 Chester Greenwood of Maine patents earmuffs.
DEALS
1677 Massachusetts gains title to Maine for $6,000.
CLIMATE
1888 Great Blizzard of 1888 rages.
1993 Blizzard of '93 hits north-east US.
INVENTIONS
1894 J L Johnstone of England invents horse racing starting gate.
ASSASSINATION
1981 Attempt on Pope John Paul II by Mehemet Ali Agca.
NAZIS
1933 Josef Göbbels becomes German minister of Information & Propaganda.
1938 Anschluß-Austria annexed by Nazi Germany.
TRIALS
1998 Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney, once the Army's top enlisted man, was acquitted at his court-martial of pressuring military women for sex, but was convicted of trying to persuade his chief accuser to lie.
SCIENCE
1781 The planet Uranus was discovered by Sir William Herschel. He thought it was a comet.
1925 A law went into effect in Tennessee prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution.
JEWS
1656 Jews are denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam.
1951 Israel demands DM 6.2 billion compensation from Germany.
MURDER
1964 Bar manager Catherine "Kitty" Genovese, 28, was stabbed to death near her New York home; the case generated controversy over charges that Genovese's neighbors had failed to respond to her cries for help.
RESIGNING
1980 Ford Motor Co. Chairman Henry Ford II announced he was stepping down, the same day a jury in Winamac, Ind., found the company innocent of reckless homicide in the fiery deaths of three young women in a Ford Pinto.
2007 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales admitted mistakes in how the Justice Department handled the dismissal of eight federal prosecutors but said he wouldn't resign.
POLITICALLY CORRECT
1988 yielding to student protests, the board of trustees of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a liberal arts college for the hearing-impaired, chose I. King Jordan to become the school's first deaf president.
TRAGEDY
1996 a gunman burst into an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and opened fire, killing 16 children and one teacher before killing himself.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
2007 President Bush sought to soothe strained ties with Mexico by promising to prod Congress to overhaul tough U.S. immigration policies, but Mexican President Felipe Calderon criticized U.S. plans for a 700-mile border fence.
ABORTION
2003 The Senate voted 64-33 to ban partial birth abortion.
BORN
1733 Joseph Priestly England, clergyman/scientist (discovered oxygen).
1770 Daniel Lambert England, giant (weighed 739 lbs (334 kg) at death).
1908 American billionaire, publisher and diplomat Walter Annenberg (TV Guide) was born in Milwaukee.
BIRTHDAYS
Jazz musician Roy Haynes is 83. Country singer Jan Howard is 78. Songwriter Mike Stoller is 75. Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 69. Actor William H. Macy is 58. Actress Deborah Raffin is 55. Comedian Robin Duke is 54. Actress Glenne Headly is 53. Actress Dana Delany is 52. Rock musician Adam Clayton (U2) is 48. Jazz musician Terence Blanchard is 46. Actor Christopher Collet is 40. Actress Annabeth Gish is 37. Actress Tracy Wells is 37. Rapper Common is 36. Rapper Khujo (Goodie Mob, The Lumberjacks) is 36. Singer Glenn Lewis is 33. Actor Danny Masterson is 32. Actor Emile Hirsch is 23. Singers Nicole and Natalie Albino (Nina Sky) are 22.
DEATH
1901 Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president of the United States, died in Indianapolis.
1938 Clarence S Darrow Scopes Monkey Trial attorney, dies in Chicago at 80.
Today is March 13, the 73rd day of the year. There are 293 days left in 2008.
compiled by Mondoreb
images:
* sonofthesouth
* allposters
Sources:
* today in history
* Today in History
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page
QUICK-THINKING
1504 Christopher Columbus, stranded in Jamaica during his fourth voyage to the West, used a correctly predicted lunar eclipse to frighten hostile natives into providing food for his crew.
You might be interested in reading: Leap Day: Facts, Figures, Birthdays and Famous Events |
WAR!
1856 Hostilities in Russo-Turkish War cease.
1944 US troops land on Los Negros, Admirality Islands.
DISASTER
1960 Earthquake kills 1/3 of Agadir Morocco population (12,000) in 15 seconds.
1996 A Peruvian commercial jetliner crashed in the Andes, killing all 123 people on board.
UNUSUAL
1904 Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Frederick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenberdorft Sr near Hamburg, Germany; had a Christian name for every letter in the alphabet, shortened it to Mr Wolfe Plus 585 Sr.
VAVOOM!
1960, the first Playboy Club, featuring waitresses clad in "bunny" outfits, opened in Chicago.
KINK
1784 Marquis de Sade transferred from Vincennes fortress to the Bastille.
RECORDS
1964 Frank Rugani sets badminton shuttlecock distance record, 24.3 meters.
WHAT?
1988 NYC Mayor Koch calls Reagan a "WIMP" in the war on drugs.
POLITICS
1956 Islamic Republic established in Pakistan.
2000 George W. Bush won Republican presidential primaries in Virginia, Washington state and North Dakota, defeating John McCain; Vice President Al Gore crushed fellow Democrat Bill Bradley in Washington state.
SPORTS
1964 North Carolina high school basketball teams play to 56-54 score in 13 overtime.
KILLERS
1996 Daniel Green was convicted in Lumberton, North Carolina, of murdering James R. Jordan, the father of basketball star Michael Jordan, during a 1993 roadside holdup. (Green and an accomplice, Larry Martin Demery, were sentenced to life in prison.)
2000 Six-year-old Kayla Rolland was fatally shot by a fellow first-grader at Buell Elementary School in Mount Morris Township, Michigan.
REPORTS
1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (also known as the Kerner Commission) warned that racism was causing America to move "toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal."
BURNED
1528 Patrick Hamilton Scottish protestant martyr, burned at stake.
MOVIES
1940 "Gone with the Wind" won eight Academy Awards, including best picture of 1939.
2000 "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won a record-tying 11 Academy Awards, including best picture; Sean Penn took the best-actor prize for "Mystic River" and Charlize Theron won best actress for "Monster."
SCIENCE
1968 the discovery of the first "pulsar," a star which emits regular radio waves, was announced by Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell in Cambridge, England.
MUSIC
1968 at the Grammy Awards, the 5th Dimension's "Up, Up and Away" won record of the year for 1967, while album of the year honors went to The Beatles for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
QUITTING
1984 Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau announced he was stepping down after more than 15 combined years in power.
2000 Facing rebellion, Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned and left for exile in the Central African Republic.
RATINGS
1996 About 30 television and entertainment industry executives met with President Clinton at the White House, where they promised to devise a TV ratings system.
BORN
1908 The artist known as Balthus was born in Paris.
1936 Henri "Rocket" Richard NHL center (Montréal Canadiens).
1944 Dennis Farina Chicago IL, actor (Mike Torello-Crime Story).
BIRTHDAYS
Actress Michele Morgan is 88. Actor James Mitchell is 88. Actor Joss Ackland is 80. Actor Alex Rocco is 72. Former space shuttle astronaut Jack Lousma is 72. Actor Dennis Farina is 64. Actress Phyllis Frelich is 64. Actor Antonio Sabato Jr. is 36. Rapper Ja Rule is 32.
DEATH
1992 Johnny Mack British actor (Time Lord-Dr Who), dies at 70.
2000 Playwright Jerome Lawrence died in Malibu, California, at age 88.
February 29th, the 60th day of 2008. There are 306 days left in the year. This is Leap Day.
compiled by Mondoreb
image: eaae
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
* Today in History
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
POLICE STATE
1993 A gun battle erupted at a compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidians; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.
1994 Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand-gun, went into effect.
WAR!
1847 US defeats México in battle of Sacramento.
1917 AP reports México & Japan will ally with Germany if US enters WWI.
TERRORISM
1982 FALN (PR Nationalist Group) bombs Wall Street.
2007 A federal judge in Miami ruled that suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla was competent to stand trial on terrorism support charges, rejecting arguments that he was severely damaged by 3 1/2 years of interrogation and isolation in a military brig.
DISASTER
1704 Indians attack Deerfield MA, kill 40, kidnap 100.
1844 A 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others.
1888 Ferry in San Pablo Bay explodes.
1956 13 die in a train crash in Swampscott MA.
1975 More than 40 people were killed in London's Underground when a subway train smashed into the end of a tunnel.
1997 Earthquake in Pakistan, kills 45.
SLEEPING
1646 Roger Scott was tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church.
EXODUS
1879 "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee political/economic exploitation.
SEALS
1913 6.8-m, 4000-kg elephant seal killed, South Georgia (South Atlantic).
SMOOTH
1935 Nylon discovered by Dr Wallace H Carothers.
POGROMS
1988 Anti-Armenian pogrom in Azerbaijan, 30 killed.
KILLER WHALES
1977 1st killer whale born in captivity (Marineland, Los Angeles CA).
MAINSTREAM MEDIA
1940 1st televised basketball game (college game at NYC's Madison Square Garden-University of Pittsburgh beats Fordham U, 50-37).
1983 Final TV episode of "MASH" airs (CBS); record 125 million watch.
1984 26th Grammy Awards Beat It, Michael Jackson wins 8.
1989 Memo by Bryant Gumbel criticizing Today Show co-workers becomes public.
POPULATION
1940 US population at 131,669,275 (12,865,518 blacks (9.8%)).
SPIES
1997 FBI agent Earl Pitts pleads guilty to selling secrets to Russia.
DRUG WAR
1990 Dutch police seize 3,000 kg of cocaine.
NAZIS
1933 German President Von Hindenburg abolishes free expression of opinion. Hitler disallows German communist party (KPD).
GOLD!
1849 The California gold rush began in earnest as regular steamship service started bringing gold-seekers to San Francisco.
WITCHES
1692 Salem witch hunt begins.
PROGRESS
1827 The first U.S. railroad chartered to carry passengers and freight, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co., was incorporated by the state of Maryland. It ran from Baltimore to Wheeling, WV (then part of Virginia).
1970 Bicycles permitted to cross Golden Gate Bridge.
POLITICS
1854 Republican Party formally organized at Ripon WI.
1859 Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery.
1861 The Territories of Colorado and Nevada organized.
1961 JFK names Henry Kissinger special advisor.
MAFIA
1951 The Senate committee headed by Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn., issued an interim report saying at least two major crime syndicates were operating in the U.S.
PATENTS
1893 Edward Acheson, Pennsylvania, patents an abrasive he names "carborundum".
1956 Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory.
SHOOT-OUTS
1997 In North Hollywood, Calif., two heavily armed masked robbers bungled a bank heist and came out firing, unleashing their arsenal on police, bystanders, cars and TV choppers before they were killed.
NANNY STATE
1871 2nd Enforcement Act gives federal control of congressional elections.
1997 Smokers must prove they are over 18 to purchase cigarettes in US.
1998 In their weekly radio addresses, President Clinton and the Republicans sparred over education, with Clinton describing tests showing American high school students lagging behind those of other industrial nations as a "wake-up call" while the Republicans blamed the disappointing results on a "hungry bureaucracy in Washington" that gobbled up education funds.
2003 The Food and Drug Administration announced that every bottle of ephedra would soon bear stern warnings that the popular herb could cause heart attacks or strokes, even kill.
ATHEISTS
2003 The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stood by its ruling that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was unconstitutional because of the words "under God."
REVOLT
1708 Slave revolt, Newton, Long Island NY, 11 die.
ECONOMY
1982 AT&T looses record $7 BILLION for fiscal year ending on this day.
2007 Wall Street rebounded fitfully from the previous session's 416-point plunge in the Dow industrials as investors took comfort from comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that he still expected moderate economic growth.
SCIENCE
1953 Scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes.
2003 NASA released video taken aboard Columbia that had miraculously survived the fiery destruction of the space shuttle with the loss of all seven astronauts; in the footage, four of the crew members can be seen doing routine chores and admiring the view outside the cockpit.
ASSASSINATION
1908 Failed assassination attempt on Shah Mohammed Ali in Teheran.
1986 Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot to death in central Stockholm.
BORN
1824 Charles Blondin France, acrobat/aerialist.
1928 Smokey The Bear.
1943 Donny Iris, singer.
BIRTHDAYS
Actor Charles Durning is 85. Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Josef Stalin, is 82. Actor Gavin MacLeod is 77. Actor Don Francks is 76. Actor-director-dancer Tommy Tune is 69. Auto racer Mario Andretti is 68. Singer Joe South is 68. Actor Frank Bonner is 66. Actress Kelly Bishop is 64. Football player Bubba Smith is 63. Actress Stephanie Beacham is 61. Actress Mercedes Ruehl is 60. Actress Bernadette Peters is 60. Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is 53. Basketball player Adrian Dantley is 52. Actor John Turturro is 51. Rock singer Cindy Wilson is 51. Actress Rae Dawn Chong is 47. Actor Robert Sean Leonard is 39. Rock singer Pat Monahan is 39. Actress Maxine Bahns is 37. Country singer Jason Aldean is 31. Actor Bobb'e J. Thompson is 12.
DEATH
1966 Charles A Bassett II astronaut, dies in a crash of T-38 jet at 34.
1966 Elliot McKay See Jr astronaut, dies in T-38 jet crash at 38.
1977 Eddie "Rochester" Anderson comedian (Jack Benny Show), dies at 71.
2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. died in New York at age 89.
February 28, the 59th day of 2008. There are 307 days left in the year.
compiled by Mondoreb
image: crimtrials
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
According to the AP, a 6.0 magnitude quake struck today in a sparsely populated area of Nevada, 11 miles southeast of Wells near the Nevada-Utah line.
WELLS, Nev. - A strong earthquake shook rural northeastern Nevada Thursday, causing at least one building to collapse, authorities said. The magnitude of the quake, initially estimated at 6.3, was later revised to 6.0 by the U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center. The quake, which struck at 6:16 a.m., was centered in a sparsely populated area 11 miles southeast of Wells near the Nevada-Utah line.
While the quake occurred in an unpopulated area in Nevada, what's generally not known is that over a period of the last 150 years, Nevada ranks in the top three states where large earthquakes have struck. On Oct. 3, 1915, a 7.6 earthquake hit Pleasant Valley near Winnemucca. In 1954, four quakes happened near Fallon, the smallest, a 6.6, the largest, a 7.2.
According to Seismo,
Magnitude 3 and 4 earthquakes are commonly felt, but rarely cause damage. Minor to moderate damage can accompany a magnitude 5 or 6 event, and major damage commonly occurs from earthquakes of magnitude 7 and greater. Although earthquakes don't occur at regular intervals, the average frequency of earthquakes of magnitude 6 and greater in Nevada has been about one every ten years, while earthquakes of magnitude 7 and greater average once every 27 years.It's also a matter of location, location, location, in where a quake strikes. If the same 6.0 that struck this morning near Wells had hit Las Vegas the damage toll might have been far different.
Most deaths are not due to the movement of the ground but from structural collapse, flying debris such as metal and glass, furniture and appliances, fires, broken gas lines, and downed electrical lines.
For earthquakes, it's also not only a matter of size but also that of duration that counts.
According to the USGS, there is a correlation between "shaking" and "duration" that relates to magnitude.
The duration of fault rupture is related to both how long it takes for a spot on the fault to slip (which seems to be quite fast) and the time it takes rupture to proceed along a fault. You have to think of an earthquake as an area on a fault rather than just a point. It starts at a point and then the rupture propagates along the fault at around 2 kilometers or so per second. So the larger the area of the fault that ruptures, the longer the duration of the earthquake. And larger magnitude earthquakes have larger fault areas. So there is a general relationship between duration and magnitude.And then there is "duration of shaking." This what one feels when in the midst of a quake, the ground suddenly shaking or "rolling" under one's feet or the building one is in, swaying or shaking, and how long it lasts. The duration of shaking is figured by a point on the ground and depends on how long the earthquake took to occur and how the waves move through the ground to that point.
There's also a matter of what type of ground the area has, does it contain soil, sand, bedrock or swamp? This too can make a difference.
On March 28, 1964, a 9.2 quake struck Prince William Sound and Anchorage, Alaska. This quake still ranks as the largest earthquake ever recorded. The quake lasted an incredible 4-5 minutes, resulting in avalanches and landslides, but incredibly, only nine people were killed.
The epicenter was located 75 miles east of Anchorage, the depth of the rupture was estimated at 14 miles beneath the Earth's crust. An estimated 90% of the deaths were due to tsunamis. Today the coastlines of Alaska are monitored 24 hours a day at the West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center located in Palmer.
USGS Seismic Hazard Map
A great site for earthquake info is the United States Geological Survey Site.
This map shows the liquefaction hazard in the communities of Alameda, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, and Piedmont for a magnitude 7.1 earthquake on the Hayward fault. The map predicts the approximate percentage of each designated area that will liquefy and show surface manifestations of liquefaction such as sand boils and ground cracking. Liquefaction is a phenomenon that is caused by earthquake shaking. Wet sand can become liquid-like when strongly shaken. The liquefied sand may flow and the ground may crack and move causing damage to surface structures and underground utilities. The map depicts the hazard at a regional scale and should not be used for site-specific design and consideration. Subsurface conditions can vary abruptly and borings are required to address the hazard at a given location.
Magnitude 7.2 Blender
Liquefy? (Yikes!)A more sobering map from the site is the Liquefaction Hazard and Shaking Amplification Maps of the Oakland, California area. In simpler terms "liquefaction" means the same effect as putting the city on the highest setting in a giant blender.
In summary, a 6.o quake does indeed, seem high but there also other factors such as duration, type of soil stability and population density and, if you live near the coastline, the dreaded tsunamis.
Earthquakes are truly frightening. There are no advance warning systems such as weather forecasters who can alert people to dangerous weather conditions. The first signs of a quake could be a rumbling noise under the ground, buildings beginning to sway, houses shaking, or the ground beginning to "roll" beneath your feet.
There are very few places to run and hide and it's over in a matter of seconds, or a truly frightening scenario, minutes, with, at times, unbelievable damage.
By LBG
Source - WCATWC
Source - Seismo
Image - USGS
Image - Chemistry Land
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
CLASSIC
1885 Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" published.
WAR!
1865 Evacuation of Charleston SC; Sherman's troops burn the city.
2003 Declaring that America's security should not be dictated by protesters, President Bush said he would not be swayed from compelling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to disarm.
TERRORISM
1969 PLO-attack El-Al plane in Zurich Switzerland.
2003 An arson attack on two South Korean subway trains in the city of Daegu claimed 198 lives. (The arsonist was sentenced to life in prison.)
2007 A pair of bombs on a train headed from India to Pakistan killed 68 people.
2007 Twin car bombs blew up in a mostly Shiite area of Baghdad, killed at least 62 people.
DISASTER
1828 More than 100 vessels destroyed in a storm, Gibraltar.
1947 24 die in a train crash in Gallitzin PA.
1965 27 copper miners die in avalanche, Granduc Mountain British Columbia.
2007 A military helicopter crashed in southeastern Afghanistan, killing eight U.S. service members; 14 survived with injuries.
DEATH BY WINE
1478 Duke of Clarence forced drowning in a wine barrel.
FLYING COWS
1930 First cow milked in an airplane. Olly the Cow flown & milked, milk sealed in paper containers & parachuted over St. Louis MO.
PROGRESS
1953 Premiere of 1st 3-D feature film-"Bwana Devil" (New York NY).
OCTOPUS
1973 54-kg octopus measuring 7 meter across captured in Hood Canal, Washington.
CLIMATE CHANGE
1979 Snow falls in the Sahara Desert.
MARRIAGE
1995 Pamela Anderson (Baywatch) & Tommy Lee (Motley Crüe) wed.
ENLIGHTENED
1787 Austrian emperor Jozef II bans children under 8 from labor.
PATENTS
1901 H Cecil Booth patented a dust removing suction cleaner.
DRY
1896 Cave of Winds at Niagara Falls goes almost dry for 1st time in 50 years.
BEHEADED
1587 Mary Stuart Queen of Scots (1560-87), beheaded at 44.
CLINTONS
1998 President Clinton's foreign policy team encountered jeers during a town meeting at The Ohio State University while trying to defend the administration's threat to bomb Iraq into compliance with U.N. weapons edicts.
QUAKERS
1688 Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown PA.
POLITICS
1841 1st continuous filibuster in US Senate began, lasting until March 11.
TRIALS
1970 the "Chicago Seven" defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention; five were convicted of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968. (Those convictions were later reversed).
SCIENCE
1930 photographic evidence of Pluto (now designated a "dwarf planet") was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.
1977 the space shuttle Enterprise, sitting atop a Boeing 747, went on its maiden "flight" above the Mojave Desert.
REBELS
1861 Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the provisional president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Ala.
BORN
1516 Mary I Tudor [Bloody Mary] Greenwich, (1553-58), 1st reigning queen of Great Britain.
1859 Sholem Aleichem [Solomon Rabinowitz], author (Fiddler on the Roof).
1890 Boris L Pasternak Russian poet/writer (Dr Zhivago).
1892 Wendell Wilkie Presidential candidate (R-1940)/author (One World).
1895 George "The Gipper" Gipp Notre Dame football star.
1920 Jack Palance [Walter Palanuik], Lattimer PA, actor (City Slickers).
BIRTHDAYS
Former Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown is 86. Actor George Kennedy is 83. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., is 81. Author Toni Morrison is 77. Movie director Milos Forman is 76. Singer Yoko Ono is 75. Singer/songwriter Bobby Hart is 69. Singer Irma Thomas is 67. Singer Herman Santiago (Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers) is 67. Singer Dennis DeYoung is 61. Actress Sinead Cusack is 60. Producer-director-writer John Hughes is 58. Actress Cybill Shepherd is 58. Singer Juice Newton is 56. Singer Randy Crawford is 56. Rock musician Robbie Bachman is 55. Rock musician Larry Rust (Iron Butterfly) is 55. Actor John Travolta is 54. Game show host Vanna White is 51. Actress Greta Scacchi is 48. Actor Matt Dillon is 44. Rapper Dr. Dre is 43. Actress Molly Ringwald is 40. Actress Sarah Brown is 33. Singer-musician Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek) is 31. Actor Tyrone Burton is 29. Actor Shane Lyons is 20.
DEATH
1546 Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died in Eisleben.
1564 artist Michelangelo died in Rome.
1967 American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer died in Princeton, N.J., at age 62.
1990 Hulk fictional character in "Death of Incredible Hulk" on NBC, dies.
1998 Sportscaster Harry Caray died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 83.
2001 NASCAR driver/"The Intimidator", dies in crash during Daytona 500 at 49.
2003 Country singer Johnny PayCheck died in Nashville, Tenn., at age 64.
February 18, the 49th day of 2008. There are 317 days left in the year. This is Presidents Day.
by Mondoreb
image: teachwithmovies
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
The Web site JunkScience.com (http://junkscience.com/) has raised its “prize” offering from $100,000 to $125,000 for anyone who can actually supply proof that human emissions of greenhouse gases are causing global warming.
In presenting its Ultimate Global Warming Challenge, the Web site states: “If you think it’s a no-brainer that humans are causing catastrophic global warming, here’s your opportunity to earn an easy $125,000.”
The challenge: “$125,000 will be awarded to the first person to prove, in a scientific manner, that humans are causing harmful global warming.”
The winning entry, the site notes, will reject this “hypothesis”:
“Man-made emissions of greenhouse gases do not discernibly, significantly and predictably cause increases in global surface and tropospheric temperatures along with associated stratospheric cooling.”
Entrants are told to limit their entries to 700 words — and include a $15 entry fee.
The Web site defines Junk Science” as “faulty scientific data and analysis used to advance special and, often, hidden agendas.”
As of this writing, the “prize” had gone unclaimed by anyone — including Al Gore — for more than 60 days.
by RidesAPaleHorse
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
Somebody sent us this and we're glad they did. Ever see a liquid magnet? We hadn't.
Now we have. Just call me Mr. Wizard
It has the smell of a middle school science project. We have a hypothesis and an experiment by a Junior Left Science Club member. One that he might pull off in his parents' basement. As he explains it:
I was thinking about the AG confirmation and how Mukasey isn't certain that waterboarding constitutes torture. And then I started thinking about how Rudy Giuliani doesn't believe waterboarding is torture either.Hot Air then picks up the scent:
So I figured I'd find out for myself. I mean if it isn't torture, it can't be that bad, right?
Let me tell you this, it's not pleasant. And we were operating under circumstances where we absolutely knew that the other person wasn't going to kill us with the technique.
“[I]f it isn’t torture, it can’t be that bad, right?” our hero wonders rhetorically before declaring it most definitely bad — and recounting how he went in for one, two, three, four rounds of the stuff. Which, incidentally, was fewer than his brother managed. A possible alternative standard: If it is torture, you probably wouldn’t be so willing to have it done to you.Hot Air provides a video of another water-boarding experiment, that of Fox's Steve Harrigan. Neither Harrigan nor the JLSC member doesn't seem much the worse for wear.
But--boy!--did he come up with a Certified Left conclusion.
So yeah, it's torture. And if Rudy or Dick Cheney or anybody else doesn't think it is, well, I'd like to see how they would react if they had it done to them.And there are members of the Right Wing Blogosphere who don't want to give the Left any style points for originality.
It'd be original if the Left spent 1/10th the time trying to recreate the victims of terror's experience: being blown to bits, fingers and hands chopped off, the beheadings. Perhaps they might bring a more useful perspective to the discussion of what constitutes torture.
Of course, all that would really mess up the basement.
by Mondoreb
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