User:	abc_revenge (posted by mswyrr)
	Date:	2012-05-26 21:24
	Subject:	fan graphics
	Security:	Public

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

	User:	ontd_science (posted by messy_hair)
	Date:	2012-05-26 21:16
	Subject:	Robot Fish will give us fresh water
	Security:	Public

Robot fish will assist to clean ocean and sea water.

The intelligent robots are made to make our life more easier. Now Artificially intelligent fish robot has been developed by European scientist to identify and help to clean up the pollution in water.

Engineered by scientists at “SHOAL”, a consortium of different European groups collaborating on developing artificially intelligent robots, the robot fish are currently being tested out in the Northern Spanish port of Gijon.

Luke Speller, the Project Leader of “SHOAL” said about the advancement of this creature, “SHOAL has introduced the capability of cutting the detection and analysis of pollutants in sea water time from weeks to just a few seconds,” he said in a statement. “Chemical sensors fitted to the fish permit real-time in-situ analysis, rather than the current method of sample collection and dispatch to a shore based laboratory.” Furthermore, he added, “the Artificial Intelligence which has been introduced means that the fish can identify the source of pollution enabling prompt and more effective remedial action.”

The fish moves at about the same speed of tuna, is capable of accelerating as fast as a pike, and possess the navigation skills of an eel.

More, the fish are smart enough to map where it is , know where to look out for pollution, and locate the source of the pollution. The robot fish even comes back home when they sense their batteries are almost drained.

The concept of developing robotic fish has evolved over the years, beginning with University of Essex researcher and Professor Dr. Huosheng Hu.

It mimics the actual movement of fish so elegantly that you’d think this was a real fish if you ever saw it.

The model that’s currently being testing in the waters off of Spain, is less ornate but no less impressive.
It costs around $31,000 each but “SHOAL” hopes to have the fish in mass production in order to reduce the cost.

It is nice, though, that before the robots overtake us as the dominant race, they’re gonna work a while to make sure we get to take one last nice, clean swim in the ocean.

Source
http://www.themoneytimes.com/20120526/robot-fish-will-give-us-fresh-water-id-1701711730.html

	User:	vintage_ads (posted by wrascalism)
	Date:	2012-05-26 20:00
	Subject:	Pedestrianism Forbidden!
	Security:	Public

1930

	User:	imaginarycircus
	Date:	2012-05-26 22:47
	Subject:	bad omens, aka no thank you
	Security:	Public

There are two teeny baby birds dead on our doorstep. I thought they were some kind of leaves or flowers, but David insisted on pointing out that they were tiny baby birds squished flat. I hope someone disposes of them soon. I just can't do it and I can't stand to see them there.

I worked this afternoon, but it was a bit of a struggle. I got in a couple of hours of editing though. Still working my way through flourish and paper_tizpporah's excellent comments and suggestions. Hopefully I will be finished with that bit on Monday and will have adjusted the romantic tension properly so that it works well now. Romantic tension is a YA fic is hard.

I bought myself some very pretty lipstick roses at Whole Foods. I'm heading to a picnic with friends tomorrow, even though I would rather stay in the house all day in my underwear and read. I'm making a blueberry pie.

I'm doing my best to keep my head above water. I don't feel so bad right now because I took an ativan and so that eased the crushing anxiety at least. And David has been so sweet all day. And I have a sleeping Wooster cat on my feet. ♥

Originally posted at Dreamwidth but you may comment here at LJ. ♥ There are comments at Dreamwidth.

	User:	mswyrr
	Date:	2012-05-26 19:13
	Subject:	"revenge" graphics
	Security:	Public

This entry was originally posted at http://mswyrr.dreamwidth.org/356690.html. comment(s) there.

	User:	ontd_political (posted by homasse)
	Date:	2012-05-27 10:54
	Subject:	The East Asian Textbook Issue
	Security:	Public

The East Asian Textbook Issue
Historical Background and Current Status

The Textbook Issue and International Relations in East Asia

The textbooks used in Japanese schools are drafted by private-sector publishers, but they are subject to approval by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). In April 2011 publishers submitted their proposed textbooks for use in high schools starting in 2013. On March 27 this year, following completion of the authorization process, the contents were released to the media. Stories about the new textbooks in the domestic media have focused on their references to the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster and on their bulked-up curriculum—part of a swing of the pendulum back toward a more rigorous approach to education. But on the international level the main subject of attention has been the treatment of historical and territorial issues in the new textbooks.

Why are international observers so interested in the contents of Japanese textbooks relating to these matters? It is questionable how much of a real impact these contents have on ordinary Japanese people’s views on history and territorial matters. Middle and high school social studies courses tend to be seen as exercises in rote memorization; once the exams are over the material generally vanishes from students’ heads. But partly because the textbooks are subject to official authorization, people outside Japan take their contents to express Japan’s “official” view of historical and territorial issues—notably, the history of Japan’s expansion into East Asia starting in the late nineteenth century and the territorial claims that overlap with those of Japan’s neighbors.

( The content of the textbooks is not just a matter of interest on the international level. The subject is also closely related to domestic political issues. )

	User:	ontd_political (posted by redstar826)
	Date:	2012-05-26 20:44
	Subject:	A Company’s Stand for Gay Marriage, and Its Cost
	Security:	Public

In the months leading up to North Carolina’s vote this month to ban gay marriage, most of the state’s business leaders were conspicuously silent. While some executives spoke out against it as individuals, not one Fortune 500 company based in North Carolina, including Bank of America, Duke Energy, VF Corporation and Lowe’s, opposed it.

But one company did: Replacements Limited, which sells silver, china and glassware, and is based in Greensboro. Its founder and chairman, Bob Page, is gay. The company lobbied legislators, contributed money to causes supporting gay marriage, rented a billboard along the interstate near its headquarters, and sold T-shirts at its showroom. Its experience may explain why no other for-profit company followed its example.

Hostile letters and e-mails poured into the company from customers canceling their business and demanding to be removed from its e-mail list. “I understand that your company donated $250,000 or so to the effort to ban the marriage amendment,” read one. “I am very concerned that with an increased visibility and acceptance of the gay and lesbian lifestyle, one of my children, who would have grown up and been happily married to a husband, could be tempted to the lesbian lifestyle.”

Another read: “I was excited to see your wares and expected a pleasant shopping experience. Instead I was accosted by your political views, which I do not share. It was very uncomfortable and unpleasant browsing with all those signs and T-shirts against amendment one, to the point where I had to leave.”

A third said, “Money you used to support this opposition came from my many purchases from your company and that is not O.K. with me,” adding, “I will look for my replacement pieces elsewhere.”

Several writers seemed more sad than angry. “Visiting Replacements Limited has always been one of my favorite treats,” said one. “I had the privilege of experiencing your beautiful store firsthand,” began another. Both said they would never return.

______________________

read the entire article at the source

	User:	greatpoets (posted by with_rainfall)
	Date:	2012-05-27 11:39
	Subject:	Wolf | Alessandra Lynch (+ request)
	Security:	Public

Hi guys, I'm on a bit on an Animorphs kick at the moment and I'm looking for poems about hawks, especially red-tails. Thank you! in return, an unrelated poem:

Wolf - Alessandra Lyncb

My owl was
a deadened petal. My moon
a leadweight hat.

Sinewy and sidelong, I
slowly circled, tail
bruised yellow,
a mouthful of splinters,
and skittery gunshy eyes

that met the skulking bullet
one spring and couldn't
fix again, didn't want to feed—

my brittle haunch arched thin, made
space for rattlesnake to rise.
My shifty flank-bones,
driftwood in tired water.


( Under the familiar )
--

	User:	fanthropology (posted by wneleh)
	Date:	2012-05-20 08:07
	Subject:	Media References to Fanfic, the week ending 5/19/12
	Security:	Public

He's hooked: Yahoo Sports's Eric Freeman has written more NBA RPF, this time stories In which Metta World Peace challenges James Harden to a gunfight in the Old West, In which Tim Duncan solves a mystery in Lob City, and In which the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers fight for the future of the nation in Revolutionary America.

In an article Zillow contributed to Forbes (seriously) about the building in Seattle where Fifty Shades of Grey is largely set, a poor unnamed journalism major wrote Posted online by British author E.L. James as a piece of “Twilight” fan fiction, the trilogy of books were picked up by a small publisher out of Australia in 2011.

Alix Bryan, in a piece about 50SoG, attempted to explain: Wondering what fan fiction is? It’s basically recycled and re imagined literature. The quick synopsis is that fans extend the story lines of an original work, and develop already existing characters from a story. Fan fiction isn’t new, but it is quite uncommon for fan fiction to be published and skyrocket to the top of the bestseller list.

( More 50SoG )

On The Awl, Sarah Marshall wrote about Hannibal/Clarice, asking What does it mean when a number of women—by all accounts, happy, fulfilled ones‐pick characters like Edward Cullen or Hannibal Lecter to be their imaginary boyfriends?

( Supernatural, Avengers, Andy Cohen )

On Library Journal, Martha Cornog wrote briefly about Boys’ Love Manga: Essays on the Sexual Ambiguity and Cross-Cultural Fandom of the Genre: Topics include audiences in different countries, comparison with slash fiction, fan groups and reactions, and valences of transgressive sexuality evoked in the stories.

Finally, on Metro, Rachel Tarley shared that Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch has admitted that he is well aware of the wide range of fan fiction viewers of the BBC series produce and that he's even seen stories suggesting his character is in a homosexual relationship with Watson.

	User:	greatpoets (posted by ointment500)
	Date:	2012-05-26 15:58
	Subject:	It is Marvellous to Wake Up Together by Elizabeth Bishop
	Security:	Public

Request!: My Google-fu is not cut out right now. I'm looking for a specific poem. Anyone recognize it? It's a love poem. There's an archaeological dig or something, and the speaker is observing someone pick up a piece of ceramic which then crumbles. The speaker thinks that the ceramic piece, being held by the love interest, thought it was a flower and wanted to bloom for her.

--

It is Marvellous to Wake Up Together by Elizabeth Bishop

It is marvellous to wake up together
At the same minute; marvellous to hear
The rain begin suddenly all over the roof,
To feel the air suddenly clear
As if electricity had passed through it
From a black mesh of wires in the sky.
All over the roof the rain hisses,
And below, the light falling of kisses.
An electrical storm is coming or moving away;
It is the prickling air that wakes us up.
If lightning struck the house now, it would run
From the four blue china balls on top
Down the roof and down the rods all around us,
And we imagine dreamily
How the whole house caught in a bird-cage of lightning
Would be quite delightful rather than frightening;
And from the same simplified point of view
Of night and lying flat on one’s back
All things might change equally easily,
Since always to warn us there must be these black
Electrical wires dangling. Without surprise
The world might change to something quite different,
As the air changes or the lightning comes without our blinking,
Change as the kisses are changing without our thinking.

	User:	grande_caps (posted by kasiopeia)
	Date:	2012-05-26 23:42
	Subject:	Camelot 1.01-1.04
	Security:	Public

Requested by wandererjulia and odette_river

Camelot 1.01 - "Homecoming"
HD screencaptures
719 caps • sorted • 1280x720px • jpg


Gallery • Download (MF)

Camelot 1.02 - "The Sword and the Crown"
HD screencaptures
687 caps • sorted • 1280x720px • jpg


Gallery • Download (MF)

Camelot 1.03 - "Guinevere"
HD screencaptures
701 caps • sorted • 1280x720px • jpg


Gallery • Download (MF)

Camelot 1.04 - "Lady of the Lake"
HD screencaptures
700 caps • sorted • 1280x720px • jpg


Gallery • Download (MF)

- PLEASE COMMENT IF TAKING!
- After you've downloaded the .zip file you need to change the extension from .doc to .zip. How to do that here.
- Credit kasiopeia or grande_caps.
- Join and/or friend the community if you like our caps! :)

	User:	vintage_ads (posted by spuzzlightyear)
	Date:	2012-05-26 14:19
	Subject:	PUNCH THE DOG!
	Security:	Public

Odd that Gaines dog food would promote (although they don't really say it) a punching bag toy with a dog on it.

	User:	ontd_political (posted by redstar826)
	Date:	2012-05-26 16:50
	Subject:	Vatican leak inquiry: Pope's butler charged
	Security:	Public

The Pope's butler has been charged in connection with the Vatican's inquiry into a series of media leaks.

Vatican magistrates have named 46-year-old Paolo Gabriele as the suspect in their investigation, saying he illegally took confidential documents.

A series of leaks, dubbed Vatileaks, has revealed alleged corruption, mismanagement and internal conflicts.

Last month, Pope Benedict XVI set up a special commission of cardinals to find the source of the confidential memos.

Mr Gabriele is the pope's personal butler and assistant and one of very few laymen to have access to the Pope's private apartments.

He lives with his wife and three children in an apartment within the Vatican walls, where Italian media report that a stash of confidential documents had been discovered.

"I confirm that the person detained on Wednesday for illegal possession of private documents is Mr Paolo Gabriele, who remains in detention," the spokesman for the Holy See, Father Federico Lombardi said, according to Italy's state broadcaster, Rai.

The Vatican's judge, Piero Antonio Bonnet, has been instructed to examine the evidence of the case and to decide whether there is sufficient material to proceed to trial.

Mr Gabriele has nominated two lawyers capable of representing him at a Vatican tribunal, and has met with them.( Read more... )
_____________________________
source

	User:	ontd_political (posted by schmutzigs)
	Date:	2012-05-26 12:16
	Subject:	Palestinian policewomen break traditional stereotypes
	Security:	Public

By Farhana Dawood ; BBC News, Hebron

It is rare to see women police officers on the streets in any part of the Arab world.

But in the Palestinian territories where civil police are themselves, a relatively new concept, concerted efforts are under way to bring more women into the force.

( read more )

source has 3 pictures

This is some good news, however, I do feel as if the only reason for female police officers is because it is convenient during the raids, not because they are so big on equality..

	User:	ontd_political (posted by iatrogenicmyth)
	Date:	2012-05-26 10:13
	Subject:	Biden shares tales of loss with military families
	Security:	Public

Vice President Biden, speaking Friday to families and friends of military personnel killed in action, gave a powerful retelling of the death of his wife and daughter 40 years ago — saying he'd realized then how grief might push a person to suicide.

"For the first time in my life, I understood how someone could consciously decide to commit suicide," Biden told a meeting of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors at a hotel in Crystal City. The group offers counseling to relatives and friends of military personnel who have died. It was holding its 18th annual military survivor seminar.

"Not because they were deranged, not because they were nuts," Biden continued, according to a transcript. "Because they'd been to the top of the mountain, and they just knew in their heart they'd never get there again, that it was never going to get — never going to be that way ever again. That's how an awful lot of you feel."

In 1972, just after the Delaware Democrat was first elected to the Senate, his wife, Neilia, and his 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car crash. Biden's two sons — Beau, then 3, and Hunter, 2 — were grievously injured but survived.

On Friday, Biden told the military families how low the crash had brought him. "I probably shouldn't say this with the press here, but — no, it's more important — you're more important," he said.

Biden had actually told the story before, on page 80 of his 2007 memoir, "Promises to Keep."

"I began to understand how despair led people to just cash it in," Biden wrote.

On Friday, that story was a powerful section of a speech that illustrated Biden's particular style of rhetoric: frequently meandering, slightly pompous but movingly personal.

Biden often veered from the topic at hand — once, to tell the story of how he proposed to his current wife, Jill, five times before she said yes. He referred to himself, oddly, as "one of those folks they called the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee."

And, in a manner as unpolished as a living-room conversation, Biden told of climbing back out of grief.

"I have to tell you, I used to resent — I knew people meant well. They'd come up to me and say, 'Joe, I know how you feel,' " Biden said. The audience laughed.

"Right?" They clapped.

"You knew they meant well. You knew they were genuine. But you knew they didn't have any damn idea how you felt," Biden said to laughter. "Right? Isn't that true?"

Biden talked about his internal conflicts, as he tried to start another relationship after his wife's death. "You're going to go through periods when, after a while, you'll see somebody you may have an interest in, and you're going to feel guilty as hell. You're going to feel this awful, awful, awful feeling of guilt," he said.

Biden did not look like a vice president giving a speech: He hunched over, he looked down at his hands, he spoke at times haltingly and at times through clenched teeth.

And he told the story of his slow recovery — relying on family members and calling other people who’d been through the same kind of loss.

Biden said another elected official who had suddenly lost his wife advised him to start keeping a daily journal.

Write a "1" for the day, he advised Biden, if it feels as bad as the first day of your grief. For other days, write down a number that corresponds to your feelings — all the way up to 10.

"He said, 'You won't have 10s for a long time, but measure it, just mark it down.' And he said, 'After two months, take out that calendar and put it on a graph, and you'll — you'll find that your down days are just as bad as the first day,' " Biden said. “But here's what happens . . . they get further and further apart. He said, 'That's when you know you're going to make it.' "

Biden said he meant to offer these family members the same kind of hope.

"There will come a day, I promise you and your parents, as well, when the thought of your son or daughter or your husband or wife brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. It will happen," Biden said.

"My prayer for you is that day will come sooner or later," he continued. "But the only thing I have more experience than you in is this: I'm telling you it will come."

source

Feeling a lot of Biden love lately. Who has gifs/macros to celebrate all the things he "probably shouldn't say" and yet need to be said?

EDITED TO ADD: FULL VIDEO OF THE SPEECH AVAILABLE.



I cried watching it.

	User:	ontd_political (posted by lafinjack)
	Date:	2012-05-26 09:57
	Subject:	Nurse refuses student inhaler during asthma attack
	Security:	Public

Deltona, Floriduh - Volusia County School officials stand by a Deltona High School nurse's decision to refuse a student his inhaler during an asthma attack, citing a lack of a parent's signature on a medical release form.

"It's like something out of a horror film. The person just sits there and watches you die," said Michael Rudi, 17. "She sat there, looked at me and she did nothing."

He said the school dean found his inhaler during a search of his locker last Friday. The inhaler was still in its original packaging -- complete with his name and directions for its use; however, the school took it away because his mother hadn't signed the proper form for him to have it.

School leaders called Sue Rudi when her son started having trouble breathing. She rushed to the office and was taken back to the nurse's office by school administrators and they discovered the teen on the floor.

"As soon as we opened up the door, we saw my son collapsing against the wall on the floor of the nurse's office while she was standing in the window of the locked door looking down at my son, who was in full-blown asthma attack," Rudi said.

Michael Rudi said when he started to pass out from his attack, the nurse locked the door.

"I believe that when I closed my eyes I wasn't going to wake up," he said.
The Director of Student Health Services, Cheryl Selesky, said that parents must sign the medical release form each year, which allows students to carry their prescribed drugs with them in school.

This year, the district had no record of his Rudi's signature, said Selesky.

"I mean its common sense if I saw an animal on the street in distress I would probably stop to help, why wouldn't she help a child," Sue Rudi said.
But Rudi is a senior, and his mother said the district has had records of his asthma throughout his years in the school.

She thinks her son could have died because of a technicality.

"How dare you deny my son something that we all take for granted, breath," said Sue Rudi. "Why didn't someone call 911?"

Selesky said the district is looking into whether proper procedures were followed by the school, and while nurses can't give medications without the proper authorization, it is district policy to call 911 when a student cannot breath.

Selesky could not explain why 911 was never called.

"I understand if you can't give it to him call 911," Sue Rudi said. "Why did you not call 911?"

Sue Rudi said she worries about the next student caught in a similar situation, and has filed charges against the nurse with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

"I want to press child endangerment charges for something they did to my son," Rudi said in the 911 call.

Local 6 reached out to the school district officials for more information, but they declined to interview.

WKMG Orlando

	User:	abc_revenge (posted by ikindofrock)
	Date:	2012-05-26 15:42
	Subject:	Revenge Finale: Reckoning Review
	Security:	Public

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

	User:	nineweaving
	Date:	2012-05-26 15:28
	Subject:	Tempest & teacups
	Security:	Public

This was hanging out above the clothesline at Phoxinus' house.  All part of Englishness, along with shepherd's pie, The Archers, pots of tea, and hedgerow jams.

21 April 2012

Nine

User:	jennycrusie
Date:	2012-05-26 15:51
Subject:	New From Writewell: Basics of Character
Security:	Public

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ArghInk/~3/Gwd1K5xxGJI/

http://www.arghink.com/?p=7172

Lani Diane Rich’s Basics of Character Lecture is up at WritewellAcademy.com now:

The 201 Lecture is divided into four major subjects:
• Sacredness of Character
• Character Triangle
• Naming Your Character
• Character Discovery

The Lecture Package has four components:
• The Slideshow Lecture with voiceover
• The Audio of the voiceover alone.
• The Lecture 201 Notebook (pictures of the slides with quad-ruled spaces for taking notes)
• Supplementary material with exercises

Yes, I know I said I’d get my structure lecture up, but then I looked at the scene structure lecture that was next and realized I needed to do them both at once because of the overlap. Coming soon . . .

Edited to add:
The Writewell thread is up at the new Cherry Forums so if you’ve been wanting to ask questions and talk about the lectures, that’s here.

	User:	imaginarycircus
	Date:	2012-05-26 14:42
	Subject:	WHOA
	Security:	Public

BEST WEDDING PROPOSAL EVER. I totally cried. In public at the coffee shop. Have Kleenex handy. via boingboing

Originally posted at Dreamwidth but you may comment here at LJ. ♥ There are comments at Dreamwidth.