Teh interesting (non-PHL-related) news stub thread

[Grim]

Purpose-Driven life author to deliver Obama invocation

Aretha Franklin and Dr. Rick Warren, an evangelical minister of the Saddleback Church, are among the select group of people who will participate in Barack Obama’s inaugural swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20.

Mr. Obama has also chosen Elizabeth Alexander, an African-American poet at Yale University, and some of the world’s premier musicians, including Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma, to share the podium with him.

In honoring the civil rights movement, Mr. Obama has asked the Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, dean of the civil rights movement and co-founder with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, to deliver the benediction.

The inaugural program, which begins about 10 a.m. on the West Front of the Capitol, is an historic ritual that is both an intensely personal statement by the new president and a way for him to set the tone of his new administration.

The only use I ever had for Warren's book was to prop up the short leg on my table. What a load of arrogant drivel

We have a copy of the book, can't say that I've read it. If I remember correctly the only time I picked it up was when I was drunk.

[Twin-Skies]

We have a copy of the book, can't say that I've read it. If I remember correctly the only time I picked it up was when I was drunk.

That would have been the perfect time to read it. The alchohol will do much to numb out the agonizing amount of stupid you'll have to endure per chapter

[Goat]

Old and common, but... Rape victim stoned to death

There's no way I'm going to stay in this country!

[Grim]

Old and common, but... Rape victim stoned to death

There's no way I'm going to stay in this country!

WTF!!!

[Twin-Skies]

Old and common, but... Rape victim stoned to death

There's no way I'm going to stay in this country!

That's old testament doctrine at work right there!

---

"Deep Throat" dies at age 95

No, no - not the cyborg ninja!

"Mark Felt, the man who helped bring down President Richard Nixon as the infamous 'Deep Throat' for investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, died at his Santa Rosa home Thursday afternoon surrounded by family," the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported.

Felt, 95, suffered from congestive heart failure but the immediate cause of death was not known Thursday night.

"He was an important person for the history of our nation, but also such a gem and such a treasure to our family," said his grandson, Nick Jones, who confirmed the death. "He was a great man." [...]

In 2005, more than 30 years after his whistle-blowing helped topple a presidency, Mark Felt, once a top FBI official, held a press conference on the front steps of his Santa Rosa home.

Felt, then 91, revealed that he was "Deep Throat," the anonymous source who leaked information to Washington Post reporters about the Watergate scandal that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1972.

Felt's role, but not his identity, was depicted in a 1974 book titled "All the President's Men" by Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein, and in a subsequent movie of the same name released in 1976. [...]

Felt, who lived in Alexandria, Va, after his 1973 resignation from the FBI, moved to Santa Rosa in 1991, and lived there with his daughter, Joan Felt, until his death.

[J.E_Magog]

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/specialcovera...-Offensive

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28404637/

Kung hindi lang sana kagaguhan ang ginagawa ng hamas.

[Grim]

School bans the "school"

THE head of a new school has banned the word “school” — in case it upsets pupils’ parents.

Watercliffe Meadow is known as a “Place for Learning” because staff say “school” has a negative impact on some mums and dads.

The new £4.7million academy in Sheffield, South Yorks, replaced three old schools.

Its 481 pupils, from nursery to Year 6, are allowed to wear slippers instead of shoes.

Headteacher Linda Kingdon said: “We decided we didn’t want to use the word ‘school’.

“One reason was many parents of children here had very negative connotations of school.

“Instead we want this to be a place for family learning.

“There are no bells or locked doors. We wanted to de-institutionalise the place and bring the school closer to real life.”

But the name ruling was ridiculed last night.

Local mum Kimberley Dunne, 26, said: “A school is a school. Seriously.

“The word ‘school’ doesn’t have negative connotations, it’s just where you go.

“A school’s always been a school, why change it?”

Marie Clair, of the Campaign for Plain English, said: “It’s laughable. Do they think by changing the name they will change the environment?

“We all know what the building is. There is this whole political correctness agenda.

“Using unfamiliar words instead of a simple one, like ‘school’, will get in the way of children’s ability to learn.”

Andrew Sangar, Sheffield Council cabinet member for children’s services, said: “It’s a school.

“We consider it a school and that’s how we refer to it.”

[Twin-Skies]

What are they gonna call "school" now? Cybertron?

Hmm, remember that old line "This coffee's strong enough to run my car for a week!"

Well, it turns it might actually be true:

http://www.enn.com/energy/article/38969

Coffee grounds — currently wasted or used as garden compost — could become a cheap and environmentally friendly source of biodiesel and fuel pellets, says a study.

Spent coffee grounds contain 11—20 per cent oil, depending on their type. "This is competitive with other major biodiesel feedstocks such as rapeseed oil (37—50 per cent), palm oil (20 per cent), and soybean oil (20 per cent)," say researchers writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Scientists at the US-based University of Nevada, Reno, used an inexpensive process to extract oil from the leftovers of making espressos, cappuccinos and other coffee preparations from a multinational coffeehouse chain.

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This oil was then converted into biodiesel, which could be used to fuel cars and trucks.

The world's coffee production is more than 7.2 million tonnes per year, according to US Department of Agriculture figures cited in the study. This could yield about 340 million gallons of biodiesel, say the researchers.

"It is easy and economical to extract oil from used coffee grounds compared to traditional feedstocks," said Mano Misra, an author of the study. Further, coffee oil has some antioxidants which are required for biofuel stability," he told SciDev.Net. After the oil extraction the remaining solid waste from processed coffee can be used as garden compost or fuel pellets.

The process "would be ideal for countries where coffee is produced. A lot of defective coffee beans are discarded into the landfills every year. Processing these beans as well as coffee grounds would be an economical approach," said Misra.

The researchers calculate that in the United States an annual profit of more than US$8 million could be made from biodiesel and pellets from one major coffee chain alone.

Start collecting at your local Starbucks - this could be pretty ludicrous!

[Sforza]

Start collecting at your local Starbucks - this could be pretty ludicrous!

I don't really go to Starbucks anymore, but I use spent coffee grounds as fertilizer. Rabbit poop also makes good fertilizer.

[clonezero]

wat about chicken poop?

[Shintetsu]

If you can scrape it off the floor when dry, then go ahead.

[NiX]

http://pspupdates.qj.net/6-year-old-miss...aid/127768

6-year-old misses bus and drives self to school. GG.

[Grim]

http://pspupdates.qj.net/6-year-old-miss...aid/127768

6-year-old misses bus and drives self to school. GG.

Sucks that the parents had to be punished for something so bizaare, but what can you do.

[Twin-Skies]

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11401013

BOULDER — Derik Bonestroo's confrontation with fellow workers at Eldora Mountain Resort appeared to be a well-planned scheme to kill co-workers who were not Christian, according to investigators from the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.

Bonestroo's "demeanor and tactical style clothing" had all the indications that the 24-year-old Bonestroo carefully planned the face-to-face showdown, according to documents filed Wednesday in Boulder District Court.

Chris Fiegel, a detective in the Sheriff's Office, interviewed employees who were at the ski area's pump house Dec. 30 when Bonestroo fatally shot Brian Mahon, the resort's general manager. Fiegel also interviewed other Nederland- area residents who were confronted by Bonestroo.

Well, Homeland Security was right about one thing: One of the biggest sources of terrorism are religious fundamentalists.

[Grim]

In line with the Obamas moving into the White House soon, I found these interesting factoids on the building itself.

http://architecture.about.com/od/usa/tp/...eFacts.htm