Headlines below the fold

Does drilling for geothermal energy cause earthquakes? If so, too bad: geothermal would be a clean energy source for those of us on the Pacific rim...

well, you can always build a "green" nuke plant... over an earthquake fault instead...link2...link3...link4...
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The "Gore effect" hits Copenhagen...

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Depressed? Head South, young man...
it's the sunshine...no SAD when you can go out in the sunshine.

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Mary appearing in Egypt?
not a good sign, since the "Genuine" appearances seem to preceed wars or disasters (e.g. Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Mosul...)

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coffee and tea prevent Diabetes?

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The Russians are coming! the Russians are coming!

The UKTelegraph notes that not only have rumors said that the "climategate" files were hacked by the Russians, but now the Russians are claiming that the UK Climate folks cherrypicked only the favorable data from the Russian observations.

I wrote about it on BNN and Gateway pundit has more HERE.

Pravda report is HERE...but bringing up some important points if you sift through the socialist rhetoric: That pushing green tech will keep poor countries from real development, while letting rich countries pollute..

and I find it amusing that if you go to the bottom of the story, you find all the pertainent links to internet social sites (Digg, facebook, Stumble upon, etc) and google ads on the side...and then there is this link:

Join Pravda.ru forum to experience freedom of speech

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Does drilling for geothermal energy cause earthquakes? If so, too bad: geothermal would be a clean energy source for those of us on the Pacific rim...

well, you can always build a "green" nuke plant... over an earthquake fault instead...link2...link3...link4...
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The "Gore effect" hits Copenhagen...

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Depressed? Head South, young man...
it's the sunshine...no SAD when you can go out in the sunshine.

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Mary appearing in Egypt?
not a good sign, since the "Genuine" appearances seem to precede or predict wars or disasters (e.g. Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Mosul...)

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coffee and tea prevent Diabetes? and Dark Chocolate too...
Chocolate contains flavonoids, or plant-based compounds, that are medically proven to promote heart health. Yes, Science Daily documents at least 66 studies confirming it!

Notably for us diabetics, one study found that a chocolate bar had no greater effect on blood sugar than another "more traditionally recommended snack," if calories were equal. Researchers attribute this to the slow absorption of sugar when eaten with fat (which we knew, thanks!).

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Musical interlude for the day

Trilobite report evolution going great

yes, it's the Onion..

One of their "biggest headlines" of the last few billion years.

Cute Links of the day

Animator vs Animation

headsup Col Updraft
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and this one is adorable:


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altogether now, folks:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

UH OH

QuidPleura?Blog
visits the Rivendell Condos in Ocean Park MD, and
takes a peek behind The Hobbit Restaurant...and then notices something:

UH OH:

Run, fat hobbitses! It’s a cookbook! It’s a cookbook!

Sad news of the day

Lava cascades down the slopes of Mayon volcano in Albay province at dawn on Tuesday. (Nelson Salting/Associated Press)

Mayon volcano was predicted to sputter along for a couple of months, but now two growing lava domes make scientists worry that it will have a "big bang" explosion...and more families are in danger if it rains and causes mudslides...
30thousand evacuated so far, twice that many will be evacuated if things get bad.
There goes the tomato harvest...but 70 farmers were killed in the last eruption trying to work on fields, so the gov't is being cautious.
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Bah Humbug...government here says no street caroling by kids and no "Merry Christmas" at the airport, because people might think you're asking for a tip.

Their excuse is that people "exploit" street children to beg, but actually a lot of mountain farmers have a yearly Christmas trip to Manila to increase their income by begging, and they are blocking traffic. Their romantic looking lifestyle at home is in reality a hard life of poverty, because farming and fishing traditionally won't sustain the increasing population or compete with globalization LINK LINK

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Violence in Zimbabwe's 2008 election included systematic rape of women in the opposition party..
Doesn't stop Mugabe and friends from being wined and dined in Copenhagen...Grace needs to shop, after all...

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Gateway Pundit is documenting a scandal called "Fistgate" don't ask for details here, it's X rated, and Massachusetts parents have been up in arms against it for years...
LINK LINK2 link3

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And the really really sad news of the day

Hello Kitty got a ticket...

Recipes Recipes

The Stephanie Plum/Evanovich fansite has recipes for junk food for people from Jersey.

This one I used to make all the time for my kids:
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
3 eggs
1 cup of flour
1 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons unsweetened pineapple juice
5 tablespoons butter
1 cup brown sugar
Unsweetened pineapple slices
Melt the butter in a nine inch pie plate. Dump brown sugar into the plate and mash with a fork until it's all mixed with the melted butter and covers the bottom of the plate. Arrange pineapple slices on bottom of plate in single layer. Mix eggs, flour, sugar, baking powder and pineapple juice by hand in a small bowl until smooth. Pour mixture over pineapple slices. Bake in a 350 degree oven until a pick comes out clean (maybe 30-45 min.) Remove cake from oven and set on rack for a couple minutes. Put cake plate over the hot cake in the pie plate and CAREFULLY but quickly turn the pie plate upside down. Remove pie plate and let cake cool to room temperature. Pineapple slices should be on top! (If you let the cake cool in the pie plate you'll NEVER get it out). When cool spread lots of globs of whipped cream on it ...the real stuff, none of that fake stuff in a can! Eat too much.

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Peachie has an easy way to make Pork Caldereta at Youtube:


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and from My Colombian Recipe Blog: This link is to a recipe for Pizza Colombiano

What, you never had pizza with avocado and cilantro? Shame on you....

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contrast and compare to Pinoy Pizza: one way to use your mango, pineapple, and chicken Lechon leftovers.

Insomnia download of the day

Having trouble sleeping?

Just play a selection from Herodotus' Histories, and voila, instant sleep.
And if you still can't sleep, at least you will find out all about the Persian wars.

They also have an audio download of the children's book A Dog of Flanders.
or you can watch it on YouTube or Viddler




or if you prefer, the 1960 version is at youtube too.

Podcast of the day

at the FreeLibrary of Phila...TerryTeachout discusses the life of Louis Armstrong.

and here is Louis in action

Headlines below the fold

Arms dealer upset his guns were used for killing...
"I thought I was on the side of the good guys"
Guess he never heard of "extrajudicial killings"...

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Anti HIV gel, like condoms doesn't work in Africa to lower HIV rates...
CWN questions if it was ethical to have a placebo used in the study...since earlier studies hinted the gel cut the HIV rate down by 30percent.

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Audi Executive says electric cars are a sham, and diesel engines are the way to go.
In the States, the Audi A3 TDI is one of two clean diesels sold by the company. The A3 TDI won green car of the year honors at the 2009 LA Auto Show.

Well, that is true here, at least...and if worse comes to worse, biodiesel could be made locally.
and I worry about the ecological implications of throwing away all those batteries...
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MP3 players will soon have legal limits to how loud they can be played.
Actually, my MP3 players already only can go to 100 db...so Lolo can't use them to listen to music.

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Simbang Gabi starts today...
I persuaded Lolo that getting up every day at 3 am was too much, but our church has a 5 pm mass for those who want to make the novena but can't get up early.

Cat photo of the day

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Time waster of the day

Tiger Hunt

via Davebarry.

Santa Lucia

RectaRatioBlog notes that Sunday celebrated the feast of St. Lucy, the patroness of the blind. In Catholic churches, the saints and statues all have a "hint" to tell you who they are. Well, since St Lucy had her eyes put out before she was martyred, she usually carries a tray with eyeballs on it so you know it's her, not St. Agnes (who usually carries a lamb).

The legend is that prior to being martyred she wore candles on her head so she could carry more supplies when she traveled through the dungeons to bring bread to those imprisoned for their faith. So the Swedish custom is for a girl to do the same. Often there are processions of girls, one with the crown, and others with a single candle..




On St. Lucy's Day each year by tradition one of the daughters of the family is chosen to be St. Lucy. She gets up early and takes coffee and 'Lucia' buns (Saffronsbrod) to the rest of the family who are still in bed. She dresses in a white robe with a scarlet sash and wears on her head a crown of green leaves with five candles in it.


The traditional bun is a Lussekat, (St. Lucy's Cat) or Saffron bun.
Rectaratio has the recipe HERE.

Gift Item of the day

SteriPen, a new portable water purifier that uses ultraviolet instead of chemicals to kill germs...
StrategyPage says soldiers can now officially use it...

I like their headlines:
Light The Little Suckers Up And Watch Them Die
The SteriPen uses ultraviolet light to kill all microbes in water. The battery powered device weighs 4.5 ounces (189g) and is 7.3 inches (18.6cm) long. It takes 48 seconds to clean half a liter (16 ounces) of water (and 90 seconds for a liter). Just stick the probe in the water, press the button and watch the countdown timer.

Sounds a bit faster than the old fashioned ceramic.terracotta jug sterilizer we used to use before Lolo dug his deep well.

More bad news for the Philippines

There goes the Mayon Volcano



it's in Luzon but far south of Manila, so no threat to us here.

Stuff below the fold: The good, the bad, and the ugly

The Good:
Muelmar Magallanes, the Hero who saved 30 lives from drowning in the typhoon floods here has been honored by locals giving donations to build his family a new house...

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The Bad:
Some of the illegal guns owned by the Ampatuan clan were gifts from other politicians...and are types that are not allowed to be owned privately

"...(Defense Secrtary) Gonzales said the clan’s patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr., would often ask for firearms in exchange for the favors that he and his family provided to other politicians..."

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The Ugly:
Instapundit links to a site that claims: TIME FOR A sexual bill of rights...
Actually, Aristophanes satirized that idea 2500 years ago, and it wasn't pretty...
...altogether now: PaulVI was right...

Underground city

Falafel

I just put a book review of "Going Rogue" up at BNN...

One of the harshest criticism in the book is when she calls someone a "falafel lady".

I was going to say we don't have falafel here in the Philippines, but last week, I noticed a vendor at the mall selling pita stuffed sandwiches...didn't check if they include hummus, but they looked good... so I guess we are really sophisticated here in the Provinces now.

But if you need a recipe on how to make falafel, check HERE.

Stuff below the fold

Prague Radio remembers "Silver Sunday" and the persecution of the church under communism.

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Could an ingredient found in marigolds help macular degeneration?

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A visitor has photos of Kasgar, in far western China.

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Maine National Guard will visit home for Christmas before going to Afghanistan, thanks to Steven King and his wife.

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A Mobius strip cut will produce a mathematically correct bagel.

cream cheese optional.

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photo by lukechanchan

the happiest food picture of the day from Epicute, who adds:

And if that’s not enough cute for you, try this. Followed with a bite of this. And maybe two of these. Oh, and maybe this. Yknow, just for good measure.

Hero Rats

"...The idea occurred to Weegens as he realized that rats were both easy to train and had an excellent sense of smell...
He founded APOPO, which is a non-profit organization, the aim of which is to train up African Giant Pouched Rats and to deploy them in the field. Not only would the rats be a cheaper alternative to mine clearance methods already in use – he figured that they would be considerably more efficient as well. ...The rats move up and down an area the size of a squash court and when they locate a mine they usually sit still and scratch themselves. After that the mines can be detonated by their human helpers.

headsup NotCot

Image Credit

Headlines below the fold

Our lovely president Gloria was absent for much of the discussion on Martial Law, and older news stories say she is supposed to go to Copenhagen with the Philippine delegation...what gives?

GMATV reports she has been in the hospital "for a checkup"...the last time this happened, she had a biopsy of a breast and groin lump, and sarcastic stories leaked she was just getting her breast implants changed.

She is in our prayers...

How to do CPR

To do proper CPR, you have to do it fast enough to keep the blood pressure up but slow enough for the heart to refill with blood between beats.

So how to learn the proper rate without a metronome? sing a song to get it right. And scientists say it works:

Their findings, published online in the British Medical Journal, confirmed Nellie – already used by some trainers – was the more effective song...



the problem? The song might distract those doing CPR, so the scientists
..called for research into other songs that might work, including Another One Bites the Dust by Queen or Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus.

A previous study by the University of Illionois medical school found the Bee Gees disco anthem Stayin' Alive was, at 103 beats per minute, close to the ideal rhythm.

Video of the day

Forget Jim Carrey

Try watching A Barbie Christmas Carol...

King William V?

The UKMail notes:

Another censored section, stressing the key role for William, says that ‘from next year, it is expected that HRH The Prince William will spend a significant part of his time on official engagements . . . we need to put the necessary provisions in place in anticipation of that’.

The leak will add to speculation that the Queen believes William, rather than Charles, represents the best long-term interests of the monarchy

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1235375/Prince-William-share-Queens-duties-Treasury-document-reveals-secret-plan-make-Shadow-King.html#ixzz0ZYpsvec0

(headsup Cacciaguida)

News you can Use

Quirky Signs at DRB blog...


I don't know about the other signs, but this one is real: Moon township is near the Pittsburgh Airport.
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Podcast on history of santa HERE.

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British schoolboy suspended for selling....ordinary potato chips to students.
related item:

• 
  
• Schoolchildren banned from putting cheese on potatoes but told pizza is okay

Frosty the NanoSnowman

the world's smallest snowman, measuring just 0.01mm across - one fifth of the width of the average human hair.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1232987/Have-microscopic-Christmas-The-worlds-smallest-snowman-just-0-01mm-wide.html#ixzz0ZWpqMFOV

GIve me money

from the Politico, a US political website.

COPENHAGEN –Iranian Prime Minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe plan to address negotiators at international climate talks in Copenhagen next week.

The three leaders are listed in a line-up of more than 180 government officials published in a United Nations schedule of speakers. Each head of state will have up to three minutes to address roughly 700 delegates, reporter, observers and civil society groups....

but guess where the money is going?

Red Cross is asking for $32 million for food aid to the poor who can't afford to buy food in Zimbabwe.

But Zim is sending two delegations to Copenhagen...

"Robert Mugabe will next week take a 59-member delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, while Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's delegation will comprise 19 people putting a further strain on the country's financial resources....

This comes at a time when Finance minister, Tendai Biti, when presenting the 2010 budget decried the country's total expenditure on foreign trips which was put at US$28 million at the end of November..."

my take at BNN

Playstation into Supercomputer

From StrategyPage:

The Cell Processor on the PlayStation 3 (PS 3) is also a GPU, and that GPU alone was used to built several of the fastest supercomputers on the planet. But military researchers were quick to note that some versions of the PS 3 could be tweaked to run Linux, and the software required to produce supercomputer results from the PS 3s Cell processor. Since the PS 3 is sold below cost (so buyers will purchase lots of very profitable games), the U.S. military has bought thousands of PS 3s and used them as inexpensive supercomputers.

Flowers

Evergreen trees and mistletoe are used to decorate for Christmas season, but the Hallowed Yew is a lesser known evergreen that has positive and negative folklore associations: as the Tree of life, because it is an evergreen, and as a tree of death, associated with the Roman Furies, because it is so poisonous.

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The world's smallest Orchid...discovered by accident.

more orchid photos HERE


Photograph courtesy Lou Jost at NatGeo

Happy Happy Christmas cartoon