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And You Thought Going Green Would Be Easy.


It’s just logic that people use things.  Some things are consumed, while others are thrown away.  The more people, the more stuff.  Eventually everything gets to a heinous point, and this planet has reached that point for sure.  These photos from locations all over the globe are proof of that.

Wincanton recycling plant in Billingham ,Teeside, checks all the old fridges and washing machines before they are recycled.

 

Indian local boy wade through the pollution and floating debris left after the immersion of hundreds of idols of Hindu goddess Durga into the River Yamuna in New Delhi, India Monday 02 October 2006. The Hindu Festival of Durga Puja, celebrates the killing of a demon king by the goddess ended today with colorful celebrations all over the country. Every autumn, Bengalis all over the world celebrate her festival which not only represents the victory of good over evil, but is also a celebration of female power.

 

Chinese migrant workers sort through industrial and household waste at a recycling center in Beijing, China, 22 January 2008. In an attempt to clean up the nation’s air, soil and water China is attempting to improve recycling of household waste as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions and industrial pollution. Environmental degradation has been labeled by government officials a leading obstacle to continued economic growth. China is considering adopting a new environment tax that will force companies to pay in accordance with how much pollution they discharge, reports state media.

An Indian boy searches for coins in the polluted waters of the Yamuna River in New Delhi on April 4, 2008. The national capital is a major culprit in the pollution of the Yamuna, accounting for about 79 per cent of the total waste water that is poured into the river by the major towns along its banks. Despite the Indian government spending millions on trying to clean up the river, most of it going to waste-treatment stations, pollution levels continue to rise.

A file picture dated 11 July 2007 shows a man collecting dead fish in Guanqiao Lake in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province, which died due to the polluted lake water and the sizzling weather in the city. On 22 April 2008, Earth Day is celebrated in many countries to inspire awareness of and appreciation for the earth’s environment.

Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers remove algae from a beach near the Olympic Sailing Centre in the city of Qingdao on July 5, 2008. Olympic sailors are not normally afraid of the water, but athletes and coaches say the pollution at the Olympic sailing course in Qingdao makes them very wary of getting wet. The bright green algae that has choked parts of the Olympic course has drawn an unwelcome spotlight on China’s environmental record and prompted an ongoing cleanup effort by more than 10,000 people, backed by boats, bulldozers and the military.

View of a graffiti of a woman reading a book in the walls surrounding the Mapocho river in Santiago on August 21, 2008. The Mapocho river, at present gravely polluted, is being cleansed through an innovative project which includes a 28,5 km long underground tunnel where the sewage will be re-directed.

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A polluted creek covered with trash in Manila, Philippines on 01 March 2009. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources reported in 2008 that the Philippines hosts 50 major polluted rivers, with a majority of pollutants coming from domestic waste.

Thousands of scrapped taxis are abandoned at a yard in the center of Chongqing city on March 4, 2009. Traffic congestion and pollution have worsened dramatically in Chinese cities as the country’s long-running economic expansion has allowed increasing numbers of consumers to make big-ticket purchases such as cars.

Indian scavengers look for coins and other valuable items from among the offerings of devotees in the Ganges at Varanasi on April 5, 2009. More than 400 million people live along the Ganges River. An estimated 2,000,000 persons ritually bathe daily in the river, which is considered holy by Hindus. In the Hindu religion it is said to flow from the lotus feet of Vishnu (for Vaisnava devotees) or the hair of Shiva (for Saivites). While the Ganges may be considered holy, there are some problems associated with the ecology. It is filled with chemical wastes, sewage and even the remains of human and animal corpses which carry major health risks by either direct bathing in the water (e.g.: Bilharziasis infection), or by drinking (the Fecal-oral route).

A Chinese woman and her child walk along a street during a sandstorm in Lanzhou, north China’s Gansu province on April 23, 2009. Air pollution in China’s cities remains very serious, state media quoted a minister as saying, amid an ongoing battle to clean up the skies in the world’s largest coal-consuming nation.

Kosovo albanians work at an open coal mine near the town of Obilic on April 24, 2009. Air pollution in Pristina has passed all legal norms of environmental pollution regulations. While in the world’s developed countries air pollution is permitted to pass its limits only 18 times during a year, Pristina reaches this limit within three months. Experts at the Institute for Public Health warn that this pollution factor is decreasing people’s life expectancy.

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A worker washing dead fish remains at a Meat and Bone Meal factory in Dhaka. MBM is animal feed manufactured from abattoir waste and animal carcasses. Following the BSE (Mad Cow Disease) crisis, meat and bone meal been illegal as animal feed in Europe since January 1st, 2001. This is not the case in Bangladesh where the practice is still widespread.

Volunteers try to clear a dam which is filled with discarded plastic bottles and other garbage, blocking Vacha Dam, near the town of Krichim on April 25, 2009.

A cow grazing amidst the piles of rubbish in Dhaka. With over 8000 slums, thousands of people work everyday in the polluted environment of Bangladesh’s capital. The city is known to have the 2nd most polluted water supply in the world, contaminated by industrial waste and human excrement. The local authorities in Dhaka do not consider waste disposal a priority and as a result, rubbish accumulates in large piles around the city before it is finally removed.

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2012
05/10
CATEGORY
Photography
Uncategorized
1 comment

What The World Eats.


Meet the The Manzo family of Sicily. Their weekly expenditure is 214.36 Euros or $260.11. Note the copious amount of bread.

In an increasingly globalized world, it’s still sometimes shocking to see just how disparate our lives are compared with other human beings around the world. A book of photographs by Peter Menzel called “Hungry Planet: What the World Eats” (“©Peter Menzel http://www.menzelphoto.com. Ten Speed Press, published in 2005) makes a relevant point with great irony: at a time when hundreds of millions of people don’t have enough to eat, hundreds of millions more are eating too much and are overweight or obese.  It is these cultural differences, emphasized and reinforced by the author, which exemplifies the lifestyles and dietary habits of people around the world. In the United States, processed foods are par for course. In the Philippines, fresh fruit and vegetables play a far more significant role. In the  harsh Chad sun, a family of six exists on a measly $1.23 per week.

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina. Food expenditure for one week $341.98

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09. Note the profusion of fruits & vegetables.

Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03. This feeds a family of 11. Remarkable.

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23. No comment.

Kuwait: The Al Haggan family of Kuwait City
Food expenditure for one week: 63.63 dinar or $221.45. Most foodstuffs in this State are subsidized.

Mongolia: The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar
Food expenditure for one week: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.06

China: The Dong family of Beijing
Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $175

Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City
Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25

Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27

2012
03/29
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
4 comments

10 Myths About The Human Body.


“Old wives’ tale”: The phrase conjures up notions of well-meaning old grandmothers boiling up plants and roots and rubbing lucky rabbits’ feet. But many of the things we believe — and tell each other — about the human body are passed on by intelligent friends, educated teachers and sometimes even doctors themselves. So arm yourself with these 10 facts, and whip them out next time your mother tries to force you into a warmer sweater.

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10. Going out in winter with wet hair means you’re more likely to catch a cold

This old wives’ tale seem to make perfect sense, but there is actually no correlation between feeling cold and catching one. More likely, people get sick more often in cold weather because we tend to congregate indoors, passing viruses more readily. Many experiments have investigated the temperature-illness relation over the years, but it’s been found time and time again that chilled and non-chilled participants all caught the rhinovirus at the same rate. Today, some research even suggests that cold temperatures actually stimulate our immune systems, helping protect against sniffles in the future.

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9. Reading in the dark will ruin your eyesight

While it’s true that reading in dim light makes your eyes work a little harder, there is no evidence to suggest that the practice is detrimental in the long run. Like any muscle, eyes may get tired from having to let in as much light as possible while focusing on small text, and they may dry up a little. But this eye fatigue is far from irreversible, unless you read only in the dark, all the time. But then you have other problems to worry about.

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8. You should drink eight glasses of water a day

This myth is based on a game of telephone. Back in 1945, a government agency recommended that we need around eight glasses of fluid per day for optimal health. The eight glasses fact stuck, but what people didn’t notice was that the experts said “fluid” — which includes coffee, juice, pop etc. — and not necessarily that we need to drink it (most of our food today contains water). Also, the advice is over 65 years old. This notion has been thoroughly debunked today. So, if you feel thirsty, drink something. If you don’t, don’t.

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7. You should never wake a sleepwalker

About 20% of the population is prone to sleepwalking, which tends to run in the family. Chances are, a lot of these people are going to hurt themselves if left to wander around dark houses in the middle of the night (not to mention those who attempt to cook, eat and drive). It’s commonly believed that waking sleepwalkers will lead to them becoming angry and disoriented, but at the more ridiculous end of the scale, some believe it increases risk of a heart attack. If you’re worried, just guide the person gently back to bed. That should do the trick.

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6. You lose most of your body heat through your head

Time for a little logic here: If your head is uncovered but the rest of your body is, you will clearly lose more heat from up top. However, if your head is covered but an arm or leg is exposed, then that’s where heat will escape. This myth seems to have arisen from an old military study that left soldiers outside (with bodies completely covered) without hats and found significant heat loss through the head. Since then, it has been shown that we actually lose about 10% from our heads and the rest from other parts of the body. So you’ll feel a breeze whether you leave the house without pants or without a beanie.

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5. Skipping meals helps you lose weight

Here’s the reality: No matter how good you think your self-control is, if you skip one meal, you will overeat at the next. It’s been proven. Many times. Eating regularly means your metabolism is working hard and burning calories while turning the food you’ve eaten to energy. When you’re not eating, it switches to standby mode, and fewer calories are being burned. The longer you starve yourself, the slower your metabolism will get, eventually resulting in a less efficient calorie-burning system. So skipping meals in the long run can actually make you gain weight. Also, if you’re combining meal-skipping with exercise, you will have less energy for exercise, and workouts will be less productive.

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4. We only use 10% of our brain

Here’s the thing: We do use all of our brain, just not all at once. Brain damage studies are one of the ways the 10% myth has been disproven. No matter which part of the brain is injured, it affects performance in some way. Brain-imaging technologies show the same thing. So those who have been hoping to tap into the other 90% for telekinesis need to get off their asses and get the remote control themselves.

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3. Cracking your knuckles will cause arthritis

If every crack of a knuckle took us one step closer to arthritis, there would be a lot more aching hands in the population. That pop you hear has nothing to do with the bones; it’s the sound of a small bubble of gas bursting, and there is no evidence to show that it will lead to arthritis, which is most often a symptom of plain old age, weight pressure or previous injury. But if you are a regular cracker, you might want to ease off. It has been shown that it does slightly weaken finger joints, leading to a less impressive grip later in life.

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2. Alcohol kills brain cells

Your slurred speech Saturday night and the Sunday morning hangover may make you feel like you’ve dropped a hundred IQ points, but the actual fact is that drinking (unless you’re drinking pure alcohol, the disinfectant) won’t kill your brain cells. If you’re a raging alcoholic, you might be looking at some damage to how your neurons communicate, but this impairment is largely reversible. The liver problems, not so much.

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1. Eating at night makes you fat

Let’s get this straight: A calorie is a calorie, and calories don’t watch the clock and turn into villains of the night after 6 p.m. You get fat by taking in more calories than you burn, so Krispy Kremes at night are no worse than Krispy Kremes in the morning. What does tend to happen is that people who wait to eat until late evening when they’re super hungry, or are mindlessly snacking on the sofa, consume more. If you eat a huge meal and then lie down to sleep, you may find it hard to drift off, but that’s about it.

2012
03/19
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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Joseph Kony & ‘Kony 2012′.


It’s very crucial that if you chose to watch this video, you watch it in its entirety.

(For those who watched the movie)

“The people who were trying to make this world worse are not taking the day off. Why should I?” – Bob Marley.  Unfortunately most people are only familiar with that quote because of the Will Smith movie ‘I Am Legend’, but no matter where you heard it, or IF you’ve heard it, its a statement from one man that reflects an unyielding desire to make a positive difference.  Jason Russel, the spear head of the “Kony 2012″ movement seems to have that same desire, and the same passion to make a positive difference, and the world is just starting to find that out.  In the video, Russel makes the point that when someone is invisible, they’re crimes may go un-noticed, and that shedding light on Joseph Kony and his actions are the best first step in getting something done.  So please do what you can to spread the word about this movement, share this link – http://wp.me/pHo18-5sB with anyone that you can, or any other link in reference to the video above, and lets help make a difference to someone.

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(For those of you who chose not to watch the video.)

The man in the photo above is Joseph Kony.  An African tyrant that is not a dictator, freedom fighter, or political menace.  He is a man who simply will do whatever it takes to keep the power he has gained.  One of my staff members was unable to finish watching the video because some of the images and emotions discussed can be quite intense, and I understand that not everyone has 30 minutes of their undivided attention to devote to the film above RIGHT this second.  This hopefully however doesn’t mean that you’re not willing to help out.

KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.  Joseph Rao Kony, born 1961 in Odek, Uganda is a guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments throughout Uganda.  The LRA say that God has sent spirits to communicate this mission directly to Kony.

Directed by Kony, the LRA has earned a reputation for its actions against the people of several countries, including northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Sudan. It has abducted and forced an estimated 66,000 children to fight for them, and has also forced the internal displacement of over 2,000,000 people since its rebellion began in 1986.  As a result, in 2005 Kony was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court at the Hague, but has succeeded in evading capture since.”  If you have it in your power, ask someone if they know about the crimes of Joseph Kony, or if you’re already familiar with the issue, take the time and tell someone else.

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(For everyone.)

The ‘Invisible Children’ organization is responsible for the Kony 2012 film, and the actions taken to get government officials to respond to the acts of crime in Uganda.  Their project however is not without a bit of public backlash, especially in reference to what happens after Kony is removed from power.  Steven Van Damme, the protection and policy adviser for the whole of eastern Congo is currently based in Goma. Van Damme said his organization is concerned about potentially violent consequences for the local Ugandan population from the Kony 2012 campaign.

“In general, we’re concerned [about] the catastrophic consequences for the local population,” Van Damme said. “We’ve seen in the past, over and over again, how there’s been a lot of retaliation by the LRA, the burning of villages, maiming people, a lot of killings, with little military success.”

According to Van Damme, military operations targeting Kony would present a host of risks. “They should take into account the protection of those people living in the areas where those military operations would take place, and at the same time [we're] concerned about the fact that Kony has surrounded himself with a lot of civilians around.

“The LRA is able to operate in that part of DRC because it is a remote area, because it’s cut off, because it’s isolated. There is very limited infrastructure, very limited amount of roads, schools, hospitals, very limited communications. The state authority is very weak and is absent. … There’s a lack of political acknowledgment of the presence of the LRA in the area.”

Van Damme said the challenge of helping people impacted by Joseph Kony and his LRA forces requires focus on issues that are bigger than one man.

“What we want to highlight is the lack of development in the area that we’re talking about, where people have a lot of concerns – including the lack of access to hospitals, roads and schools – with this impacting massively on these people,” Van Damme said. “And so, any solution has to look at wider development in the area, and that seems to be where there’s a lot less attention and a lot less funding and political support.

“The LRA problem goes way beyond a purely military solution and has to tackle all of these matters that basically boil down to a very underdeveloped region.”

Aside from the potential consequences of removing Kony from power, ‘Invisible Children’ has also come under fire about some of its techniques.  There is no question that Joesph Kony is ruthless, brutal and quite possibly the embodiment of pure evil, but some of the ways ‘Invisible Children’ have gone about their campaign are under scrutiny.  A blog on Tumblr titled, “Visible Children,” offers a critical review of the organization.  There are several potential issues that would be backers and donors should be aware of prior to parting with hard earned funds or assisting in spreading their message.

Here are a couple of the allegations levied against Invisible Children:

  • Last year the organization raised $8,676,614 and only 32% of these funds went to direct services. It appears that a large majority of their funding went to pay staff salaries, transportation expenses and film production. Charity Navigator rates their accountability and transparency 2 out of 4 stars. This is due to the fact that the organization has not undergone an external audit of their funds.
  • Invisible Children supports direct military intervention, and their funding is said to support the Ugandan government and other military forces. The Ugandan army has been accused of rape and looting, but they are still defended by Invisible Children.

So weather you chose to take action in this digital war to find and stop Joseph Kony, or your opinions differ from the general consensus, just remember to do what you can to keep yourself as informed as possible about this issue and others.

2012
03/08
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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The 10 Best Cities For Young People To Find Jobs In The U.S.


Being self employed now a days is a hard thing to do, but its almost a necessity because of the job market (or lack there of).  But certain cities have better odds of you getting your hands into some real work.  Take a look at the list of top 10 cities that can offer better opportunities for work.

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10. – San Antonio, TX

They say that everything’s bigger in Texas, and in San Antonio, the job market certainly is. The unemployment rate for the San-Antonio-New Braunfels area is just 6.6 percent, with the city at a low 7 percent. The Milken Institute recently named San Antonio the nation’s best-performing city in its ranking of 200 metro areas, thanks in part to extensive oil drilling projects in Eagle Ford Shale — which in 2010, generated 6,800 full-time jobs and $311 million in salaries and benefits, according to researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio. This month, Boeing also announced a plan to move aircraft and maintenance work from Wichita to San Antonio in 2013.

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9. – Portland, OR

All you have to do to see that Portland is hip is turn on the TV — IFC’s recent hit, Portlandia, paints the city as a haven for hipsters, artists and creatives. Startups are booming here — Fast Company named the “Silicon Forest” as one of the best places to launch a startup in 2010, and the city itself is a trusty friend to startups, giving them city-sponsored events, like the Portland Incubator Experiments, to help draw investors. We’re not surprised that this hip city added 12,000 jobs from November 2010 to November 2011 and has an unemployment rate of just 6.5 percent for 25-34-year-olds.

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8. – Honolulu, HI

It seems that Honolulu is home to much more than just beaches and hula skirts. According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, visitor spending rose 15.6 percent to 1.1 billion in October, which is good news for Hawaii’s largest city and state capital, home to top companies like Hawaiian Airlines and the University of Hawaii. The unemployment rate for 25-34-year-olds is just over 6 percent, and at 9.3 percent for 20-24-year-olds, it’s the 9th best city for that category, as well.

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7. – New Orleans, LA

Post-Katrina, the “Big Easy” has built an impressive hub for jobs, with the unemployment rate at just 5.5 percent in the New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner area and just 5.9 percent in the city itself. Private companies like Tulane University and Pan-American Life Insurance help keep the economy going, but it’s the city’s tourist appeal that really brings jobs. In 2010, New Orleans hosted 8.3 million visitors, the most since the flooding. And the recent return of three major cruise ships promises to keep business afloat. The city added 9,000 new jobs in 2011, and major retailers like Walmart and Costco are planning to open new locations there in 2012.

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6. – San Francisco, CA

When you think of cities popular for young people, San Francisco of course comes to mind. A cornerstone of startup culture, the city is the birthplace of tech favorites like Twitter, Yelp, Dropbox, Wikipedia, and StumbleUpon, and added 18,000 jobs between November 2010 and November 2011. Plus, a new program, the Civic Startup Accelerator is working to pair top startup companies with City Hall to get new and innovative technology worked into the government sector — and famed angel investor Ron Conway has already agreed to advise the program. It’s no surprise that the unemployment for San Francisco County is 5.4 percent for 25-34-year-olds.

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5. – Washington, D.C.

It’s no surprise that the nation’s capital is an epicenter for jobs. Between government, tourism, finance and lobbying, there’s no shortage of industries. But much of the growth is happening in the private sector — the Washington Post’s annual list of top companies in the area, the Post 200, is dominated by defense companies, government contractors, information organizations, hotel companies and financial firms, with names like Geico and Hilton Worldwide topping the list. These firms and others give the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area an unemployment rate of just 5.4 percent for 25-34-year-olds.

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4. – Boston, MA

This historic haven is also a haven for jobs, with the unemployment rate at a cool 4.8 percent in the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy area and just 5 percent in the city proper. With Harvard, one of the nation’s top universities, employing about 18,000 people in the area, it’s no surprise, but there are plenty of businesses booming from technology, like iRobot, a robotics company most famous for Roomba, to the environment — Clean Harbors, Inc. was ranked by the Boston Globe as a top company — it was instrumental in containing the BP oil spill. The area added over 50,000 jobs in 2011, and the passage of a new casino bill promises to bring even more jobs to the area.

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3. – Fort Worth, TX

Dallas’s neighbor has a seriously sunny economic disposition, with an impressive 4.7 percent unemployment rate for 25-34-year-olds in the city and 5.1 percent in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area. In 2011, the area added over 57,000 jobs and in 2009, Site Selection magazine named Dallas-Fort Worth the country’s third most active market for corporate relocations. The area is home to the corporate headquarters of a number of household names, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Radio Shack, Pier 1 Imports, and Motorola. Of course, it’s also home to American Airlines, which declared bankruptcy in November.

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2. – Tulsa, OK

It looks like this famed oil capital is continuing to see prosperity. Tulsa beat the national average by nearly 6 points, clocking in at just 4.5 percent unemployment for 25-34-year-olds — and just 6.2 percent in the greater area. Privately-funded local initiatives have helped put this city at the top. The city added over 10,000 jobs in 2011, landing itself on our recent list of 10 Best Cities to Find a Job, and more than 4,000 of those jobs pay an annual income of $50,000 or more, according to the Tulsa Metro Chamber. Add to that extremely low overhead. Due to low rent, energy costs, and taxes, the city is attractive to businesses in aerospace, energy and health care.

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1. – Jacksonville, FL

This military-centric North Florida city might not be the first one that springs to mind, but its low unemployment rate of 2.7 percent in the city and 3.2 percent in the greater area for 25-34-year-olds makes it a clear winner (that’s more than 7 percent below the national rate of 9.4 percent for that age group). The city also had the eighth lowest unemployment for 20-24 year-olds (8.3 percent). Why so many jobs? Three naval air stations supply a steady number of noncivilian jobs, which trickles down to the rest of the community. Plus, the city is home to the largest Toyota distributor in the U.S., and has even seen a recent renaissance in filmmaking, satisfying those creative types.

2012
03/03
CATEGORY
Tech
Uncategorized
1 comment

STD’s On The College Campus.


…And knowing, is half the battle.

2012
02/26
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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The Largest Rare Pink Diamond, Found In Australia.


Mining giant Rio Tinto has unearthed a “remarkable” 12.76 carat pink diamond in Australia, the largest of the rare and precious stones ever found in the country.  Named the Argyle Pink Jubilee, the huge rough stone was found at Rio’s pink diamond operations in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and would take 10 days to cut and polish, the miner said.  “This rare diamond is generating incredible excitement,” said Josephine Johnson from Rio’s Argyle Pink Diamonds division.  “A diamond of this caliber is unprecedented — it has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again.  Rio said extremely high quality pink diamonds could fetch in excess of US$1 million per carat, meaning it is likely to go for at least $10 million.  Soaring demand for the extremely rare jewel has seen pink diamond prices skyrocket in the past 20 years and they are now among “the most concentrated forms of wealth on earth and well in excess of white diamonds,” Rio said.  The miner describes it as an “elite and discrete” market with buyers including royalty, heads of state, celebrities and “other very wealthy individuals.”

2012
02/23
CATEGORY
Tech
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Miss Maria Milian.


A native of Queens, New York, Maria Milian spent most of her life in the lush, vibrant tropics of South Florida. Her natural inclination toward the arts was nurtured from an early age by her father, a Berkley educated musician, and her mother, an accomplished model and singer. Their constant support endowed her with a fierce determination and unparalleled passion for all forms of creative expression. Of Armenian and Spanish descent, Maria Milian possesses an exotic look that has helped her achieve notoriety throughout South Florida as a mysterious beauty and to establish herself as one of the premiere faces of the region.

Maria’s first foray into the modeling industry was pageants. At the urging of her parents, Maria entered and won the Miss Southeast Florida Teen pageant in 1999 and went on to become a semi-finalist in Miss Florida Teen All-American that same year. Fueled by her victory, Maria began to explore other opportunities and soon found a calling in professional modeling. Maria has worked as a model in a number of fashion shows throughout the area, including Gata Malu and Amaya Swimwear.

 

 

 

Maria has worked in many media, including music, television, and print. She has appeared in numerous promotional materials throughout South Florida, sought out not only for her exotic beauty, but also for her strong ambition and professionalism. She has been featured on HipHopVideoVixens.net, Pyrogen Studios & Entertainment and as MiamiParties.com “Girl of the Month.”

Not one to forget her musical roots, she has appeared in music videos, among them Rick Ross ft. R. Kelly “Speeding” Currency ft. Lil’ Wayne “Where Da Cash At?” and T-Pain “I’m In Love With A Stripper (Remix).” She has also been writing and producing her own original material for an upcoming as-yet-untitled album due out in the near future. The sound brings together elements from her heritage and her upbringing for a sound that is both fresh and innovative.

2012
02/17
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
Women
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11 Things NOT To Put On Facebook.


According to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s unofficial mission is to make “the world more open and connected.” But there are limits to how open you should be on Facebook and while you might enjoy sharing photos and status updates, there are some pieces of information you would do well never to share.

Who’s watching your moves on Facebook? Employers, stalkers, federal agents, and even insurance companies have been known to scan Facebook profiles for information. Just as troubling are reports of Facebook account hackers, who put users at risk for identity fraud. Even if you safeguard personal information with a “Friends Only” setting, there is a chance you’ve friended someone whom you barely know or have never met.  So watch out folks, you never know who’s looking.

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Your Birth Date And Place

While it might be nice to hear from Facebook well-wishers on your birthday, you should think twice before posting your full birthday. Beth Givens, executive director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse advises that revealing your exact birthday and your place of birth is like handing over your financial security to thieves. Furthermore, Carnegie Mellon researchers recently discovered that they could reconstruct social security numbers using an individual’s birthday and place of birth.  Rather than remove your birthday entirely, you could enter a date that’s just a few days off from your real birthday.

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Your Mother’s Maiden Name

“Your mother’s maiden name is an especially valuable bit of information, not least since it’s often the answer to security questions on many sites,” writes the New York Times. Credit card companies, your wireless service provider, and numerous other firms frequently rely on this tidbit to protect your personal information.

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Your Home Address

Publicizing your home address enables everyone and anyone with whom you’ve shared that information to see where you live, from exes to employers. Opening up in this way could have negative repercussions: for example, there have been instances in which burglars have used Facebook to target users who said they were not at home.

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Any Trips Away From Home

CBSMoneyWatch.com warns social network users that counting down the days to a vacation can be as negligent as stating how many days the vacation will last. “There may be a better way to say ‘Rob me, please’ than posting something along the lines of: ‘Count-down to Maui! Two days and Ritz Carlton, here we come!’ on a social networking site. But it’s hard to think of one. Post the photos on Facebook when you return, if you like. But don’t invite criminals in by telling them specifically when you’ll be gone,” MoneyWatch writes.  Don’t post status updates that mention when you will be away from home, advises New York Times columnist Ron Lieber. When you broadcast your vacation dates, you might be telling untrustworthy Facebook “friends” that your house is empty and unwatched. “Remind ‘friends’ that you have an alarm or a guard dog,” Lieber writes.  Although new features like Facebook Places encourage you to check in during outings and broadcast your location (be it at a restaurant, park, or store), you might think twice even before sharing information about shorter departures from your home. “Don’t post messages such as ‘out for a run’ or ‘at the mall shopping for my sweetie,’” Identity Theft 911 cautions. “Thieves could use that information to physically break in your house.”

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Your Inappropriate Photos

By now, nearly everyone knows that racy, illicit, or otherwise incriminating photos posted on Facebook can cost you a job (or worse). But even deleted photos could come back to haunt you. Ars Technica recently discovered that Facebook’s servers can store deleted photos for an unspecified amount of time. “It’s possible,” a Facebook spokesperson told Ars Technica, “that someone who previously had access to a photo and saved the direct URL from our content delivery network partner could still access the photo.”

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Confessionals

Flubbing on your tax returns? Can’t stand your boss? Pulled a ‘dine and dash?’ Don’t tell Facebook. The site’s privacy settings allow you to control with whom you share certain information–for example, you can create a Group that consists only of your closest friends–but, once posted, it can be hard to erase proof of your illicit or illegal activities, and difficult to keep it from spreading.  There are countless examples of workers getting the axe for oversharing on Facebook, as well as many instances in which people have been arrested for information they shared on the social networking site. (Click here to see a few examples of Facebook posts that got people canned.)

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Your Phone Number

Watch where you post your phone number. Include it in your profile and, depending on your privacy settings, even your most distant Facebook “friends” (think exes, elementary school contacts, friends-of-friends) might be able to access it and give you a ring. Sharing it with Facebook Pages can also get you in trouble. Developer Tom Scott created an app called Evil that displays phone numbers published anywhere on Facebook. According to Scott, “There are uncountable numbers of groups on Facebook called ‘lost my phone!!!!! need ur numbers!!!!!’ [...] Most of them are marked as ‘public’, and a lot of folks don’t understand what that means in Facebook’s context — to Facebook, ‘public’ means everyone in the world, whether they’re a Facebook member or not.”

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Your Child’s Name

Identity thieves also target children. “Don’t use a child’s name in photo tags or captions,” writes Consumer Reports. “If someone else does, delete it by clicking on Remove Tag.  If your child isn’t on Facebook and someone includes his or her name in a caption, ask that person to remove the name.”

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Your ‘Risky’ Behavior

You take your classic Camaro out for street racing, soar above the hills in a hang glider, or smoke like a chimney? Insurers are increasingly turning to the web to figure out whether their applicants and customers are putting their lives or property at risk, according to Insure.com.  There have been additional reports that insurance companies may adjust users’ premiums based what they post to Facebook. Given that criminals are turning to high-tech tools like Google Street View and Facebook to target victims, “I wouldn’t be surprised if, as social media grow in popularity and more location-based applications come to fore, insurance providers consider these in their pricing of an individual’s risk,” says Darren Black, head of home insurance for Confused.com.

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The Layout Of Your Home

Identity Theft 911 reminds Facebook users never to post photos that reveal the layout of an apartment or home and the valuables therein.

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Your Profile On Public Search

Do you want your Facebook profile–even bare-bones information like your gender, name, and profile picture–appearing in a Google search? If not, you should should block your profile from appearing in search engine results. Consumer Reports advises that doing so will “help prevent strangers from accessing your page.” To change this privacy setting, go to Privacy Settings under Account, then Sharing on Facebook.

2012
01/23
CATEGORY
Tech
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Why ”High-Functioning” Psychopaths Rule The World.


In general, most people are very complex and can exhibit different personality traits at different times.  But one can also say that there tends to be two distinct groupings in societies’ power structures: Those who can be characterized as “normal,” and those who view the world through a prism heavily influenced by psychopathy and sociopathy.

My take (by trying to understand the world around me) is that the great majority of people operate under the “normal” approach, when it comes to power-plays and relationships.  A very small minority could be characterized as high-functioning sociopaths and/or psychopaths.

And it’s not that the majority is “normal” as in not being afflicted by all kinds of personality, psychological, and psychiatric disorders… If you watch enough TV in the U.S., you’ll be bombarded with advertisement for all kinds of psychotropic drugs.

By “normal,” what I mean is that people tend to say and do things in accordance to their real thoughts, emotions, views, ideas, beliefs.  In other words, in a “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” mode.

By contrast, the high-functioning psychopath is “characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness.”  And because of it, they tend to rule the world.  They rise to the highest levels of power in politics, and business.

If you are ambitious and choose to get involved in power-plays, the first thing you need to recognize is that you have to leave your values, emotions, ideals, and most high-minded human traits, “at the door” (as it were), if you want to have a shot to become the “top dog.”

There is an angle to everything you say and do; to every relationship you choose to “nurture.”  Like a chameleon, you adapt your message to your audience, to your environment; you are folksy with folksy folks, and you are high-brow and educated and a little snobbish when you are with the snobs.

You become so good at it, that in every circle people can’t stop pointing out what a “nice guy” you are, and how smart you are, and how you connect with people with such ease.

But to you, it’s all mechanical; a game.  There are no emotions involved at all–God forbid.

In politics, I observe how this phenomena works so perfectly, both on the left and the right.  On the right the useful idiots (the normal people) are the end-of-days religious fundamentalists, and the nativists, and the racists, and the nationalists.  All acting out of their true beliefs and emotions, and being manipulated by the sociopathic ruling class.

On the left, they are those who earnestly go about trying to respond to every absurdity coming out of the loony right-wing.  Refuting every stupid and absurd comment with facts, and studies, and statistics.  And basking in the glory of being right about the issues, about the science, about the empirical evidence.  All done in a mainly ineffective and powerless echo chamber.  But ultimately, also being manipulated by the same sociopathic ruling class.

I’ve been in sales, marketing, consulting, advertising, and technology for years.  I’ve been involved with business associations, chambers of commerce, community organization, non-profits.

I’ve seen one recurring thing in all those environments, when it comes to the naiveté of  well-meaning people who have ambition to get ahead, or get promoted, or get a raise. I’ve had this conversation many times… I ask them “So you want to be promoted?  And you think that because you are really good at what you do, and knowledgeable, and are never late to work, etc., that you should be noticed and that a promotion should be coming your way?”

They look at me perplexed, like saying “Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”  Obviously, they are a lost cause, but I try my best to leave them with something to think about: “If you want a promotion, and a position of leadership (and more responsibility) and a raise, then you have to play the ‘power-play,’ the ‘political game.’  Everything you do has to have an angle; every conversation; every project you take on; everything you volunteer to.  Who knows about what you’re doing, about your successes, about your contribution?  How are you going to ‘protect’ the organization, and above all, how your boss, your supervisor, the owner of the company, the president of the organization, is going to personally benefit by giving you a promotion?”

I’ve had similar conversations with lots of people, and invariably, sometimes they are appalled that it should come down to those considerations.  They proudly say, “I don’t like to play those games… With me, it’s-what-you-see-is-what-you-get.”  And so it will be.  If you don’t understand the concept of how to acquire power, then you’ll never have it.

It has little to do with how right you are about anything.

2012
01/19
CATEGORY
Entertainment
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5 Unethical Experiments Done in the Name of Science.


Robbers Cave Experiments

Thanks to sites that publish interesting lists everybody seems to know about the Stanford Prison experiment. By now anyone you ask will tell you that this was a horrible study where university students were placed in one of two conflicting groups in order to replicate the conditions inside a prison. The experiment was so bad that it had to be stopped weeks before it was supposed to end. What few people know is that the same experiment was done with twelve year old kids that didn’t even know they were in an experiment, and it was done THREE TIMES!

A group of scientists led by Carolyn Wood Sherif gathered several 11 and 12 year old boys and took them on a summer camping trip, without telling anyone that this was actually an experiment. The scientists had them divided into two groups, making sure to break apart any friendships that the boys had established previously. Once on the campgrounds the scientists encouraged the boys to call each other names and pull pranks on the other group. But don’t worry they also had planned some group-building activities at the end of the whole experiment, such as cutting the water supply and let the kids figure out how to avoid thirst.

In both of the first and second experiments the boys rebelled against the experimenters, probably realizing they were mad scientists. Of course these two experiments were not published originally; Sherif only publicized the results from the third test where the boys apparently resolved their conflicts at the end of camp. This prompted the scientists to declare this a successful experiment in conflict resolution; although the study did not monitor the boys over long periods of times to see if a summer spent in a camp where they were constantly insulted did any lasting psychological damage.

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Monster Study

The last study might have left you with a sliver of hope that maybe scientists didn’t run such bad experiments after all. If that is the case, please consider the case of the monster study. This is an experiment that tells you right from the title it’s going to be painful to read.

The only purpose of the experiment was to destroy the self-confidence of 11 children in hopes that psychologists could discover why stuttering happens. Even if the experiment was successful, nothing would have been gained aside from abstract knowledge; no one is interested in making more people stutter. Yet for some reason that is exactly what Iowa speech professor Wendell Johnson set out to do.

He picked out orphans, because no parent should willingly submit their kid to this kind of experiment, and over the course of six months constantly belittled everything they did. He would point out every tiny imperfection in pronunciation and every small mistake in spelling, all so that he could prove a theory that claimed stuttering was a learned behavior.

None of the children became stutterers, but several of them remained traumatized for life. Depression and loss of self-esteem were the most common problems among the 11 children that participated in the study. But at least the university sent them all an apology letter, years later after they got sued for allowing this study.

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Little Albert

Of course the previous example is not the only case of scientists being completely insensitive towards children. John B. Watson wanted to prove that you could condition a child into becoming irrationally afraid. Why exactly this needed to be proved is not really clear, but apparently it was vital to the advancement of science.

In order to accomplish the task of scaring a child, Watson took an eleven month old baby and showed him a rat, a rabbit and several fuzzy things. Whenever little Albert tried to play with the objects he was shown a loud noise would be played in the background. This was repeated over and over again until Albert became scared of anything that was white and fuzzy including blankets and beards. In case you were wondering Albert remained terrified of old Santa Claus-looking men for the whole duration of the experiment.

Once the baby was terrified of the world around him, Watson returned him to the parents. He didn’t try to erase the results of the conditioning or monitor the child as he grew up. No one knows what happened to little Albert with several theories arguing that he ended up committing suicide. While this is probably an exaggeration, one thing is for sure: that child didn’t enjoy any Christmases for the rest of his life.

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MK-Ultra

Moving away from scientists who hated children we have the CIA and their famous experiments with drugs during the 50’s and 60’s. This period was marked by a heightened paranoia of Soviet spies infiltrating the American society. So in order to protect the Unites States the CIA decided to test LSD on a bunch of unsuspecting citizens.

If the above sentence doesn’t seem to make sense to you, congratulations! You’re more logical than the CIA .

The first stop on their testing agenda was injecting several of their own agents, with acid, mescaline and LSD in order to see if they would reveal secret information. Think about it like torturing your own men to see if they would crack under pressure.

Once they collected the data on this stage of the experiment the CIA moved on to testing drugs on the general population. They did this by setting up nightclubs and paying women to slip drugs into men’s drinks. They even went as far as using brothels as a testing ground for various drugs since they knew that the male customers would be too embarrassed to report what happened.

Unfortunately most of the documents on these experiments were destroyed in the 70’s so there is no hard evidence on which the CIA could be prosecuted.

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The Oklahoma City Sonic Boom Test

Continuing with experiments performed by the U.S. government without the public’s knowledge we have the Oklahoma Sonic Boom test. The idea behind this experiment was to test how much noise a citiy’s population would accept before they started having serious psychological trouble.

This wasn’t the first test of its kind with the government flying planes over populated areas on purpose, several times in the past. However, this was the first time that the government conducted a long term experiment, measuring the sociological as well as the economic impact.

The experimenters even went as far as setting up fake complaint hotlines where the city’s population could leave detailed descriptions of how much they hated the planes flying over their houses. Of course nothing would be done about it and the experiment went on for six very loud months.

2011
12/27
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The Diving Coaster.


Over the years roller coasters have become more and more impressive.  The largest, tallest, and fastest coaster in the world happens to reside in my home state of New Jersey.  (holla)  But what I like to call the Diving Coaster, actually named ‘The Vanishing Coaster’ in Japan takes things to entirely new heights… or lows.  The coaster dips an incredible 18 feet below ground in the middle of a water fountain.  Check the method.

I feel like at night, it would be even more of an entertaining experience.

2011
12/27
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Is Starting A Business Safer Than Keeping Your Job?


While doing the research necessary for starting another new business, I found some statistics about the job market that were somewhat shocking. With a slow economy, many people have turned to entrepreneurship as a means to pay the bills. Which begs the question, what’s better today — getting a job or starting a business?  I dug deep to find out the numbers and have compared the risk of starting a business to keeping a job. If you’ve ever thought about starting your own company, take a look at our graphic below to help decide if entrepreneurship is right for you.

Click to enlarge.

2011
12/05
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Rude Hand Gestures of the World.


I might not have the most child-friendly vocabulary on the planet, but sometimes I like to switch it up and use hand gestures to express myself.  But flipping the bird gets repetitive after a while, so why not get a bit diverse with it.  “Rude Hand Gestures of the World” by Romana Lefevre is a photographic guide to the many ways of using hand gestures to offend people in different parts of the world. The book’s photography is by Daniel Castro, and published by Chronicle Books of San Francisco.

Chin Flick

Meaning: Get lost
Used in: Belgium, France, Northern Italy, Tunisia

In France, this gesture is known as la barbe, or “the beard”, the idea being that the gesturer is flashing his masculinity in much the same way that a buck will brandish his horns or a cock his comb. Simply brush the hand under the chin in a forward flicking motion. While not as aggressive as flashing one’s actual genitalia, this gesture is legal and remains effective as a mildly insulting brush-off.

Note: In Italy, this gesture simply means “No.”

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Idiota

Meaning: Are you an idiot?
Used in: Brazil

A South American gesture indicating stupidity, this requires improv skills and an actorly flair. To perform, put your fist to your forehead while making a comical overbite. The gesture is most effective when accented with multiple grunts. When executed correctly, you will be rewarded with appreciative laughs, though not, perhaps, from your subject.

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Moutza

Meaning: To hell with you!/I rub **** in your face!/I’m going to violate your sister!
Used in: Greece, Africa, Pakistan

The Moutza is among the most complex of hand gestures, as elaborate and ancient as a Japanese tea ceremony. Perhaps the oldest offensive hand signal still in use, the Moutza originated in ancient Byzantium, where it was the custom for criminals to be chained to a donkey and displayed on the street. There, local townsfolk might add to their humiliation by rubbing dirt, feces, and ashes (“moutzos” in medieval Greek) into their faces.

Now that the advent of modern sewage systems and anti- smoking laws means that these materials are no longer readily available, the Moutza is a symbolic stand-in. In Greece, it is often accompanied by commands including par’ta (“take these”) or órse (“there you go”). Over the years, the versatile Moutza has acquired more connotations, including a sexual one, in which the five extended fingers suggest the five sexual acts the gesturer would like to perform with the subject’s willing sister.

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Five fathers

Meaning: You have five fathers, i.e., your mother is a whore
Used in: Arab countries, Caribbean

If you are looking to get yourself deported from Saudi Arabia – possibly amid a riot – you can do no better than the Five Fathers gesture. The most inflammatory hand gesture in the Arab world, this sign accuses the subject’s mother of having so many suitors that paternity is impossible to determine. To execute, point your left index finger at your right hand, while pursing all fingers of the right hand together. The insult is extreme and almost certain to provoke violence.

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Pepper mill

Meaning: crazy
Used in: Southern Italy

In southern Italy, craziness is indicated by this gesture, in which one mimics the grinding of a pepper mill. The implication is that the subject’s addled brain is whirring as fast as the mill’s blades.

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Corna

Meaning: Your wife is unfaithful
Used in: The Baltics, Brazil, Colombia, Italy, Portugal, Spain

Informing a friend that his wife has been unfaithful is an unhappy and delicate task. Fortunately, in many countries, it is simple to do: one simply gives him the Corna. A very old sign, the Corna dates back at least 2,500 years and represents a bull’s horns (bulls were commonly castrated to make them calmer).

Be warned that while the gesture is used throughout the world, its meaning varies greatly from country to country.Should you be on the receiving end of the gesture, before you cast out your wife, remember that your pal may simply be saying she is a fan of American college football or heavy metal bands.

Note: In Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Lebanon, one makes a similar gesture with an identical meaning by fanning out the fingers and placing the hands by the ears to mimic a stag.

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Write-off

Meaning: I am ignoring you
Used in: Greece

The literal translation of st’arxidia mou, the phrase that accompanies this gesture, is “I write it on my testicles.” And while there may well be people who, out of a strange psychological compulsion or simply boredom, actually write on their testicles, here the threat is simply metaphorical and tells the subject you’re ignoring him. One needn’t possess testicles to use the gesture, which is employed by men and women alike.

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Cutis

Meaning: Screw you and your whole family
Used in: India, Pakistan

Should you find yourself in India or Pakistan, wishing to insult not just your host but your host’s entire family, look no further than the Cutis gesture. Its origins are unknown, but its effect is swift and severe. Simply make a fist then flick the thumb off the front teeth while exclaiming “cutta!” (“Screw you!”). In short order, you will find himself ejected from the premises, your mission to offend thoroughly accomplished.

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Tacaño

Meaning: You’re stingy
Used in: Mexico, South America

Just as the heart is associated with love, so, in many Latin American countries, is the elbow with stinginess. In Mexico the two are so closely linked that a miser is described as “muy codo” (very elbow), the idea being that he rarely straightens it to pay the check. If your compadre makes a habit of failing to pick up the check, you may wish to correct his behaviour with this sharp gesture. For extra emphasis, bang your elbow on the table.

Note: In Austria and Germany the same gesture means “You’re an idiot,” suggesting that the elbow is where the subject keeps his brain.

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Fishy smell

Meaning: I find you untrustworthy
Used in: Southern Italy

In business, it is important to let your associates know you can’t be taken advantage of. This gesture informs them you are on to their attempts to deceive. To perform, move your nose side to side with the index and middle finger. The movement suggests that something stinks, and you are trying to rid yourself of the odor.

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2011
12/03
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The Current Currentcy.


Great Britain is set to change their change. Their Royal Mint just announced the winning designs for their coin currency refresh. 26 year old graphic artist, Matthew Dent’s heraldic design was chosen as the new face of British booty. He designed a set of clever cut-aways of the Shield of the Royal Arms. Each denomination is a part of this shield and when brought together, the shield looks complete. The Royal Arms is divided into four parts: England being represented by the three lions passant guardant in the first and fourth quarters, the Scottish lion rampant in the second and the harp of Ireland in the third, with all four quarters spread over the six coins from the 1p to the 50p. Completing the new range of coins is the £1 coin featuring the shield of the Royal Arms in its entirety, uniting the six fragmented elements into one design. Anyway you look at it, I am still six pence none the richer…

2011
12/02
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Design
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‘By The Water’ – You Can Help Support Thai Flood Victims.


‘By The Water’ is a Bay Area effort to help support the victims of the floods that have plagued the country all year round.  Although you may not have though of Thailand recently (unless you’ve watched The Hangover II in the last few days) just take a second to remember that floods this damaging have hit the United States, and millions made a fuss when the government didn’t do as much as they could have to help.  Club Recess, Myself, Earpeace Records, and the rest of the organizers of this event want to try to do everything in our power to try and raise funds to help a country in need.  Come through to Club Recess on 443 Broadway Street in downtown San Francisco this Friday night to help us raise funds for the cause.  And just incase you might be unaware of how bad things are in capital Bangkok, take a look at the video below.  All you have to do is come through and party to help provide for people in need.

2011
12/02
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DJ Storm
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A Report On The Massive Shooting In Oakland.


In Oakland, a hail of gunfire along an the street left eight people wounded, including a 1-year-old boy and a woman who authorities say were hospitalized in critical condition.  The gunfire broke out Monday evening in a liquor store parking lot after a crowd had gathered, police said. The victims were transported to local hospitals by others at the scene before officers arrived to find dozens of bullet casings.  The 1-year-old’s father also was shot, but relatives told KTVU-TV he was able to drive his son to the hospital, where surgeons were trying to relieve swelling on the toddler’s brain.  “We are aware of a 1-year-old boy who was shot – possibly in the head – in critical condition right now,” Oakland Police Lt. Robert Chan told the station. Children’s Hospital Oakland declined to release any details about the child.  The shootings just after 6 p.m. happened near Interstate 880 in the city’s West Oakland neighborhood, police officer Johnna Watson said.  Watson said six of the victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries.  Investigators were seeking multiple shooters, but further details on suspects or a motive were not immediately available.  Television footage showed a van belonging to Oakland rapper Kafani that was riddled with bullet holes and had apparently taken some of the victims to the hospital.

Kafani & DJ Storm

The rapper, who goes by the name Kafani, posted to Twitter on Monday that he had not been shot but to pray for his little cousin. He said news reports that he had been filming a music video when the shooting took place were incorrect.

2011
11/29
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A Breakdown Of Traditional Japanese Ghouls.


Before I was finished writing this post, I had two people ask my WHY I would chose to put such a random topic up.  During my holiday trip back home, I got into a conversation with a friend about Paranormal Activity, and during said convo, he said something to the effect of “That sh*t wouldn’t happen in any other country”.  My immediate response was that Japanese folklore has a rich and terrifying tradition of all sorts of wild ghosts, ghouls, monsters, and goblins.  When I had to explain some of them to him, I figured I’d throw up a post about it.

Japanese ghosts collectively known as yūrei (幽霊), and Japanese monsters collectively known as yōkai (妖怪) are arguably the most popular. But how many traditional Japanese spooks do you actually know anything about? Check the method…

Traditional Japanese beliefs state that every human being has a soul called a reikon (霊魂). After death, the reikon exits the body and enters a temporal stage where it waits for the living to perform final rites and funeral rituals for them. If these are completed properly, the reikon is satisfied and it can be at peace in death, leaving spiritual limbo and continuing on to the afterlife. This sort of reikon will become a spiritual protector of its family, looking down on its ancestors with favor.

However, if a person dies an unnatural, traumatic death, or if their final rites aren’t properly performed, the reikon becomes a yūrei and starts wreaking havoc on everyone’s sanity. The yūrei wallows in temporal space, forever yearning for whatever needs to be done for it to finally achieve peace in the afterlife. If the yūrei has strong enough emotional ties to the physical world however, it can return as a ghost. A scary ghost.   These ghosts dwell on Earth, haunting its fleshy inhabitants. While all Japanese ghosts are referred to as yūrei, there are a handful of specific types differentiated mostly by the circumstances surrounding their death.

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Onryō – 怨霊

Onryō are female ghosts who were abused or neglected by their lovers in life. These ghosts dwell in the physical world seeking vengeance on those who wronged them. Strangely enough though, they rarely do actual harm to the lovers who hurt them. They are also the most common type of ghost seen in Japanese horror films. In the case of onryō, the emotions tying them to the land of the living are usually hatred or sorrow- sometimes both. So if you’re in Japan, be sure to not piss off any ladies because they might come back as onryō and ruin your life.

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Ubume – 産女

Women who die in childbirth or without providing for their children before death are classified as ubume. The power of their motherly love allows them to remain in the physical world to attempt to help the children they failed in life. Usually they come back to help their child in a time of need or leave gifts for them mysteriously. A mother’s duty is very important in Japan, and the stories of ubume are many.

Appearing in the form common to most Japanese ghosts, ubume are clad in robes of white, have long, unbound, disheveled hair, and are creepier than your perverted uncle Mike. Given their grim origins, the stories revolving around ubume are more sorrowful than those of onryō and focus mainly on the mother’s quest to ensure her child’s continued safety.

There’s no haunting to be had in these stories; the mother’s spirit directly interacts with her child after death, serving as a sort of guardian angel. However, in her providing for the child, the mother inadvertently leaves clues that otherworldly devices are at work. The most common sign are coins and gifts left for the child that turn into dead leaves after they’ve been discovered. Worst. Birthday. Ever.

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Goryō – 御霊

Goryō are malicious, vengeful spirits – martyred in life and returning for revenge in the form of widespread death and destruction. Usually these spirits were those of the ruling class (the more powerful the person, the more powerful the spirit). Out of all the yūrei, goryō are undoubtedly the most dangerous. They can be incredibly powerful. They are capable of everything from destroying crops to evoking widespread natural disasters.

In medieval Japan, it was a common belief that one’s social status carried over with them into the spirit world so goryō were almost always spirits of the aristocracy. The more powerful someone was, the more likely they would return as a ghost capable of great destruction, so naturally respecting the dead was very important. On the other hand, if some jerk assassinates you for no good reason, it doesn’t really matter if there’s a shrine built in your honor because you’re going to be mighty peeved regardless.

Goryō are vengeance ghosts similar to onryō. However, their destructive ways didn’t necessarily end with the death of those who had wronged them. Only the super-cool-mountain-powered yamabushi could put these spirits to rest for good.

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Zashiki-warashi – 座敷童

Zashiki-warashi are child ghosts who dwell in large, well maintained, fancy houses. They’re a squirrely bunch and really enjoy playing pranks on their fleshy housemates. However, seeing a zashiki-warashi or having one in your home is considered very lucky and can even bring fantastical fortunes.

These spirits usually appear as five or six year old children with bobbed hair and red faces. Zashiki-warashi are unique in the fact that they aren’t hell-bent on murdering everyone or seeking vengeance on those who wronged them. Instead, these ghosts just act like trouble-making kids. They’re brats, but at least they aren’t trying to drown you, right?

Once they’ve decided to haunt your home, they will demand your attention much like any bratty child would. If you choose to ignore the spirit, it will then begin to play increasingly devilish pranks on you until you acknowledge its presence. If you still don’t learn to love your forcibly adopted ghost-child, it will cry its little ghost eyes out and run away from home forever. Congratulations. You’ve failed as a ghost parent. When you die you’ll become an ubume for sure.

Despite their somewhat annoying nature, zashiki-warashi are considered lucky and are capable of bringing riches to those whose homes they inhabit. Should the family successfully adopt and care for the ghost child, they will be rewarded financially. But keep in mind, these kids are no angels. If you want those riches, you’re gonna have to work for ‘em, girl.

2011
11/23
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Art
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Anton Semenov’s Wild Illustrations.


Illustrations are (in their simplest for) just a reflection of something you think up in your mind.  That being said, I’m a little worried about Anton Semenov.  His dark, brooding, psychedelic, and almost alien illustrations are nothing short of amazing.  Check some of the this Russian illustrators great artwork below.

2011
11/15
CATEGORY
Art
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Bow Wow, Machine Gun Kelly, W. Chip The Ripper.


Nothing is more entertaining to me than seeing the behind the scenes content that goes into any song, music video, concert, or tour.  Being on the other side of the action is fascinating no matter who it is, so when I peeped a behind the scenes glimpse of Bow Wow’s tour, I gave it look.  Check the method below.

And in case your a die-hard Bow Wow fan, you can check out his other tour videos, part 1, part 2, and part 3 in Tokyo, Japan.

2011
11/04
CATEGORY
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The ‘Ocean Pearls’ Hotel.


Jumeirah has opened a new cluster of ‘water villas’, dubbed ‘Ocean Pearls’, at its all-suite Jumeirah Dhevanafushi hotel in the Maldives.  Designed to make visitors feel as if they are in the middle of the ocean, the new villas sit on platforms suspended directly above the water, nearly a kilometer offshore from the main resort.  The cluster of villas is connected by a decking walkway, which allows residents to easily access the shared infinity pool, bar, seafood restaurant, elevated library and spa treatment rooms, which are also suspended above the water.  The villas measure 270 square meters or 340 square meters and each offers a deck at the rear overlooking the water, complete with a sunken bathtub and steps down, allowing for a dip in the Indian Ocean.  The Ocean Pearls also offer a 24-hour butler service, on hand to make sure that the journey goes as smoothly as possible.  The luxury property is the latest from ambitious Middle Eastern group Jumeirah, which is set to double the number of hotels it runs in the next 14 months as it grows to compete with luxury brands such as Mandarin Oriental and Four Seasons.  Openings over the next year include Kuwait, Majorca, and Azerbaijan, (according to HotelierMiddleEast.com).

2011
11/01
CATEGORY
Entertainment
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24kt Gold Chocolate Champagne Truffles.


It’s not unusual for gold to be used in products for food and drink. But it seems like Tokyo 24 isn’t the only crew sporting those 2 numbers to bring something new to the table.  Branded the world’s most luxurious chocolate experience, using the most expensive dark chocolate, and wrapped in 24kt gold; The Chocolate company creates “Luxury Truffles” and the taste is hidden behind carefully selected ingredients.

The Chocolate is so special that is has taken more than two years to perfect, thus creating a smoother tasting experience and even though the entire ingredient mix is a secret, champagne is also used to fill the truffles and a lot of it.  All 15 truffles are hand crafted so that no two will be same and a contemporary boutique style box was created, using recycled material, just to further exemplify the effort that went into this magnificent creation of splendor.  More than 400 Swarovski crystals adorn each box, making it a collector’s item and to maintain individuality each box is numbered with it’s own certificate. Priced at $285, they should just put a picture of the box on the cover of the book “How To Get Any Woman To Suck Your D*ck.”

2011
10/17
CATEGORY
Art
Design
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The Bent Forest.


In a tiny corner of western Poland a forest of about 400 pine trees grow with a 90 degree bend at the base of their trunks – all bent northward. Surrounded by a larger forest of straight growing pine trees this collection of curved trees, or “Crooked Forest,” is a mystery.  Planted around 1930, the trees managed to grow for seven to 10 years before getting held down, in what is understood to have been human mechanical intervention. Though why exactly the original tree farmers wanted so many crooked trees is unknown.  Several possibilities come to mind.  It’s obvious that the trees were bent when very young, then recovered.  Those who live near large lakes with prominent ice heaves will have seen trees affected in this manner, and a similiar effect could occur after a blowdown by straightline winds.  However…  I get the sense that this forest is a tree farm, because of the uniformity of age of the trees, and I suspect this is a man-made curvature, because of the similarity of all the trees involved.  If that’s true, then my best explanation would be that these trees were trained as “compass timbers” for shipbuilding or as material for other woodworking.

2011
10/09
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Entertainment
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A PLANET Made Of Diamonds.


Astronomers think they have recently found a star that was transformed and condensed into a planet made of solid diamond.  The team was able to detect the “diamond planet” with the 64m radio telescope in Parkes, Australia, and found out that it orbits an unusual star known as a pulsar.  The scientists’ measurements indicate that the planet has slightly more mass than Jupiter, but is 20 times as dense.  With the planet likely to be made largely of oxygen and carbon, its high density means it is almost certainly crystalline, meaning that a large part of the planet may be similar to a diamond.  The pulsar and its planet are part of the Milky Way’s plane of stars and lie 4,000 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens (the Snake).  Lets hope Lil Wayne doesn’t get there first.

2011
08/26
CATEGORY
Photography
Tech
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The Rules Of Freelancing.


 

Click the enlarge

2011
08/23
CATEGORY
Design
Photography
Tech
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