So here are some kittens to take the edge off.
kthanxbai!
Bringing you interesting articles, pictures and views from around the Blogosphere and the Interwebs.
So let's get out there and clean up our space and our lives!It's Not About The New Boxes
It's not about the new boxes, folders, files or colored labels we buy. It's not about the new resolutions we make to 'be organized now!', it's about the moment we realize that a streamlined life is one with minimal stuff. It's about making tough decisions over what will be thrown and what will be giving away. It's about finding your shoulders soft and relaxed as you enter an uncluttered space. It's about finally realizing that less really is more.Image via Wikipedia
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2009 – With unprecedented speed, the first of thousands of mine-resistant, ambush-protected all-terrain vehicles —known as M-ATVs -- are being deployed to Afghanistan just three months after a delivery order was awarded.Conventional MRAP vehicles feature a V-shaped hull to deflect roadside bombs, and are proven to be lifesavers on the battlefield. The procurement of the M-ATV grew from an urgent requirement to provide troops a smaller and more maneuverable vehicle that can travel off-road and navigate Afghanistan's difficult, mountainous terrain, Marine Corps Systems Command officials said.
“We have pulled out all the stops to collapse the schedule and get these vehicles into theater,” said Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Michael M. Brogan, commander of Marine Corps Systems Command and joint program executive officer of the MRAP program. “We are doing everything that’s required to ensure that they are safe, that the risk assessments are complete, [and] that they’re fully integrated and flown into Afghanistan.”
The M-ATV supports small-unit combat operations in highly restricted rural, mountainous and urban environments that include mounted patrols, reconnaissance, security, convoy protection, communications, command and control, and combat service support. It is designed to replace the up-armored Humvee in Afghanistan. The M-ATV will carry up to five personnel: four plus a gunner.
The Defense Department has ordered more than 4,300 of the all-terrain mine-resistant trucks, and another 1,400 are planned. Oshkosh Corp. is producing the vehicles.
The article continues;Ramadan Hediya, 35, who makes deliveries for a supermarket, lives in Madinat el Salam, a low-income community on the outskirts of Cairo.
“The whole area is trash,” Mr. Hediya said. “All the pathways are full of trash. When you open up your window to breathe, you find garbage heaps on the ground.”
What started out as an impulsive response to the swine flu threat has turned into a social, environmental and political problem for the Arab world’s most populous nation.
New York Times, 19/9/09
It has exposed the failings of a government where the power is concentrated at the top, where decisions are often carried out with little consideration for their consequences and where follow-up is often nonexistent, according to social commentators and government officials.
Image via Wikipedia
“The main problem in Egypt is follow-up,” said Sabir Abdel Aziz Galal, chief of the infectious disease department at the Ministry of Agriculture. “A decision is taken, there is follow-up for a period of time, but after that, they get busy with something else and forget about it. This is the case with everything.”
Budget airline pilot, Julio Alberto Poch, arrested over 1,000 deaths in Dirty War
Image via Wikipedia The Disappeared
Disappeared'This episode just blew me away and I look forward to watching the rest of the series.Image via Wikipedia
1. Odd symptoms
2. House gets the diagnosis wrong
3. House annoys students / interns / anyone /everyone
4. House gets diagnosis right
5. Smiles all round!
The House season 6 premiere was a one-man show forApparently "House" was the most watched premiere:Hugh Laurie , and I'm pretty sure all die-hard House fans had a grand time. And as much as I hate to admit it, much less admit it, I kind of did not miss the supporting characters. Maybe I miss Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein ) a bit, but only when she interacts with House, so I guess the doctor is still the integral part of that missing element.
The two-hour season premiere of Fox's drama House emerged as the runaway ratings winner on the first night of the broadcast networks' premiere week. The show averaged a 6.1/16 with 15.8 million viewers at 8 p.m. before rising to a 6.8/16 and 17.2 million viewers in its second hour. It's a significant jump for the show, whose one-hour premiere last fall averaged a 5.6/16 and 14.4 million viewers.By David Tanklefsky -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/22/2009 12:17:22 PM EDT
Image by Michael @ NW Lens via Flickr
FORT WORTH — Jasbahadur “J.B.” Rai worked for 10 years to bring his children to the United States.
Once they arrived, he only had a little more than two months with them.
On Jan. 6, Rai, a 48-year-old convenience store clerk, was repeatedly shot inside the TL Food store on East Lancaster Avenue by Leonard Junior Coulter, a drug addict in need of money for his next fix. Rai, a native of Nepal who had just become a U.S. citizen seven months before, died that same morning at a Fort Worth hospital.
A legal immigrant, who worked within the system to come to our country and more cut down by a thug looking for his next fix.
Rai’s widow said it well:
Go read the article to see the sting in the tale at the end. Well worth it I assure you.Rai’s widow, Toukta Rai, took the stand to describe to Coulter the loss he had caused her and her family. She said her husband would have helped him that January morning, had he only asked.
“My husband had only 2 1/2 months to get to know his children when he brought them here and he never got to see them grow up like young adults,” Toukta Rai said. “He worked for 10 years to get them here from Nepal. Because of your selfish action, he is no longer with us. It is not right that you killed my husband just for your own pleasure of getting high.”
After having their 11th child, an Arkansas couple decided that was enough, as they couldn't afford a larger bed. So her husband went to his veterinarian and told him that his cousin didn't want to have anymore children. His doctor told him there was a procedure called a vasectomy that could fix the problem but it was expensive. A less costly alternative, said the doctor, was to go home, get a cherry bomb, light it and put it in a beer can, then hold it can up to his ear and count to 10.
The Arkansas man said to the doctor "I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I don't see how putting a cherry bomb in a beer can next to my ear and counting to 10 is gonna help me." "Trust me" said the doctor. So the man went home, lit a cherry bomb and put it in a beer can. He held it up to his ear and began to count:
"1"
"2"
"3"
"4"
"5"
At which point he paused, placed the can between his legs and resumed counting on the other hand.
Image via Wikipedia
4 Years ago, my parents were asked to start an elementary school in the village of Macha, Zambia. This school now has 75 students and a boarding home. One of the greatest needs is a reliable 4X4 vehicle to transport the children and bring supplies into this remote village. Together we can make a difference!
Jimmy Carter via last.fm
Greg Bluestein, Associated Press WriterOkay then President Carter, when exactly will people be allowed to show an opinion that isn't President Obama's without being called a racist? 2011? 2024?? Or just plain never argue with the Obamassiah?
ATLANTA – Former President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday that U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst to President Barack Obama during a speech to Congress last week was an act "based on racism" and rooted in fears of a black president.
"I think it's based on racism," Carter said in response to an audience question at a town hall held at his presidential center in Atlanta. "There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president."
Image by RobW_ via Flickr
Nice set of photos over at Now That's NiftyBlogs are about opinions, not just straight journalism… I would rather write of the good things that Grand Prix racing has to offer, rather than the latest sleazy scandal. .... It is a universal truth that those who live by the sword must accept that they will likely die by the sword as well. Flav knew the rules of the game and he has only himself to blame if he has been caught.And he continues straight into the meat of the matter, and the reason that I was shaking my head last night and kept telling Her Indoors (aka Mrs Jumblerant) 'I don't get it, I just don't understand why they did it'.
Image by Patrick Mayon via Flickr
The sordid tale of Singapore 2008 has no place in F1. It is a tale of miserable cynical people, people with no souls. Where is the passion in doing such things? Where is the joy? Where is the pride? Where is the honour? It was all just to keep them on the Renault gravy train. To keep their jobs when they did not deserve to be kept....
Winning is not about finishing first, winning is about passion, about pride, about the joy and the thrill of the contest.
And if you have to manufacture that, then you are lost… and have no place in the sport.Yes Joe, that is how I feel. And thank you for putting it so eloquently. That is why I read your blog.
to cause an intentional accident with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of their other driver, Fernando Alonso, who went on to win.The team stated
“The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the F.I.A. concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix,”Which is pretty damn shameful, dangerous and ultimately, suicidal for the careers of those involved.
Image by eugeneflores via Flickr