tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15468686936432146302007-06-22T07:11:17.925-04:00Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comBlogger160125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-11292316516637697462007-06-22T07:11:00.001-04:002007-06-22T07:11:17.936-04:00

If you are a European or Canadian with planetary vision, want to be on space exploration's cutting edge and don't get bored easily, the European Space Agency may be looking for you. The agency needs volunteers for a simulated mission to Mars, one of the most challenging space experiments ever. Despite rigorous conditions — up to 520 days in “extreme isolation and confinement” — competition will

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-58511612994276053402007-06-21T12:38:00.001-04:002007-06-21T12:38:15.665-04:00

A computer hacker has posted what he or she claims are key plot details of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The hacker, who goes by the name Gabriel, claims to have broken into a computer at London-based Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, which holds British rights to the last book in J.K. Rowling's series about the boy wizard. Rowling has announced two major characters will die in the seventh and

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-72436939028172040282007-06-20T22:30:00.001-04:002007-06-20T22:30:11.095-04:00

Thousands of modern-day druids, pagans and partygoers converged on Stonehenge late Wednesday as people across the northern hemisphere prepared to welcome the summer solstice: the longest day of the year. Thursday's sunrise will be welcomed by about 20,000 people expected to crowd around the ancient circle of stones in Wiltshire, southern England. Solstice celebrations were a highlight of the

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-50206905112633257462007-06-15T22:48:00.001-04:002007-06-15T22:52:32.507-04:00

On one hand, it's indispensable; on the other, it's the ultimate resource on things that don't matter - There was once an Englishman named John Locke, who had some interesting thoughts about political theory. There is also a character named John Locke on the TV show Lost. Which one has the longer entry on Wikipedia? To the surprise of nobody, it's not the enlightenment philosopher. This is what

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-5913897463406420262007-06-14T09:28:00.001-04:002007-06-14T09:49:23.683-04:00

It was on this day in 1940 that the German Army marched into Paris. The French had surrendered the city a few days earlier. There was no violence when the Nazis came in. The German soldiers marched through the Arc de Triomphe, while Parisians watched from the sidewalks of the Champs-Élysées. And a few weeks afterward, Hitler himself made a visit. He came to the Eiffel Tower and the Opera

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-22755687904299322202007-06-13T08:25:00.001-04:002007-06-13T08:28:02.420-04:00

It is the birthday of William Butler Yeats, born in Dublin (1865). He grew up at a time when Ireland was an English colony and most members of the Irish Protestant upper class were pro-British. The Catholic middle class was in favor of Irish independence. It didn't help them get along that Catholics were denied equal access to education and jobs and government positions. William Butler Yeats

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-41807791729554947542007-06-12T07:39:00.001-04:002007-06-12T14:14:03.870-04:00

It's the birthday of Anne Frank, born in Frankfurt, Germany (1929), who, on this day in 1942, her 13th birthday, received a diary as a birthday present. She was living with her family in Amsterdam. They'd gone there to get away from the Nazis, but the Nazis had followed them. And since 1940, Anne and her family had been living under Nazi occupation. Still her life was fairly ordinary when she

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-33214920679964961712007-06-11T13:56:00.001-04:002007-06-12T07:51:56.747-04:00

Reluctantly marking the end of an era -Canada's last surviving soldier of the First World War never sought the spotlight, and at 106, he doesn't see what the fuss is all about - SPOKANE, WASH. — “It's a special occasion. I can have fish and chips,” John Foster Babcock tells a waitress from his corner of a restaurant booth. He glances at his wife, Dorothy, through his thick eyeglasses to gauge her

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-62022782265617893722007-06-11T10:44:00.001-04:002007-06-12T07:51:39.548-04:00

An ornate, gold-encrusted sword that Napoleon used in battle 200 years ago has sold for more than $6.8 million, Parisian auction house Osenat said Sunday. An anonymous female buyer purchased the sword for her husband, according to auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat, who dubbed it a "very nice Father's Day gift." Source: cbc.ca NowPublic Tags: Culture | %% | France | FRENCH | history | Napoleon |

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-10863314005688276092007-06-09T10:51:00.001-04:002007-06-12T07:50:48.296-04:00

New Mexico town takes down 'Stonefridge' sculpture, citing safety concerns SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - Goodbye, Stonefridge. Or, if you prefer, Fridgehenge. Officials in Santa Fe, New Mexico, say a sculpture of more than 100 old refrigerators, stacked and arranged in a ring like England's Stonehenge, was removed by the city last week. Strong wind had toppled much of the 24-metre-high, graffiti-covered

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-12517634908964547212007-06-08T08:19:00.001-04:002007-06-12T07:50:30.616-04:00

U.S. won't back down on war-crimes tribunal The Bush administration won't dismantle the controversial war-crimes tribunals at Guantanamo Bay for alleged terrorists, including Canada's Omar Khadr, despite rulings by two military judges tossing out all charges, a senior U.S. official said yesterday. "The government is looking at a number of different options," said John Bellinger, legal adviser to

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-35893374098103894842007-06-08T07:03:00.001-04:002007-06-08T08:06:02.986-04:00

Are men necessary? Not if you're a shark, a lizard or any one of a number of invertebrate species. Females of many species can procreate perfectly well without a male, thank you very much. A Komodo dragon named Flora gave birth to asexually produced hatchlings at a British zoo earlier this year, and scientists recently confirmed that a hammerhead shark in a Nebraska zoo had reproduced asexually.

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-70506696823505084682007-06-07T16:27:00.001-04:002007-06-07T16:31:03.662-04:00

While Werner Berger was summiting Mount Everest last month, most people his age would have considered themselves lucky enough to still be able to make it around a golf course. The 69-year-old resident of Newmarket, Ont., returned home Thursday after becoming the oldest North American to reach the top of the world. Berger is also the oldest North American to have reached the Seven Summits - the

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-16636305891185929492007-06-07T07:31:00.001-04:002007-06-07T17:23:07.517-04:00

The internet is increasingly being used to repress free expression worldwide and technology companies are complicit, speakers at an Amnesty International webcast discussion of online censorship said Wednesday. The discussion — marking the one-year anniversary of Amnesty's Irrepressible campaign — featured internet experts and free speech activists from around the world who described a growing

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-7059952027614100202007-06-06T17:27:00.001-04:002007-06-06T17:31:57.946-04:00

Email senders can pay to bypass filters - Four more Internet service providers will start charging banks, e-commerce sites and other large e-mail senders for guaranteed delivery. In deals expected to be announced Thursday, Goodmail Systems Inc. is expanding its CertifiedEmail program to Comcast Corp., Cox Communications Inc., Time Warner Cable Inc.'s Road Runner and Verizon Communications Inc.

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-71253565756584947502007-06-06T14:15:00.001-04:002007-06-06T14:19:03.280-04:00

Vatican plans to tap solar energy -Associated Press - ROME -- Some Holy See buildings will start using solar energy, reflecting Pope Benedict XVI's concern about conserving the Earth's resources, a Vatican engineer said Tuesday. The roof of the Paul VI auditorium will be redone next year, with its cement panels replaced with photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity, engineer Pier

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-59143746140549250152007-06-06T08:00:00.001-04:002007-06-12T07:49:09.432-04:00

It’s time you got clean and we got a life Hey Lindsay, You don’t know me, but I know you — in fact, thanks to the tabloids and the paparazzi, I know way too much about you. (At least you weren’t drooling when they photographed you passed out in your SUV. At this point you must be thankful for such small mercies.) Anyhoo, I read the latest chapter in your “too much, too soon” saga — how your dad

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-19875250558640442772007-06-06T07:51:00.001-04:002007-06-12T07:48:39.279-04:00

It's the anniversary of the biggest military invasion in history, D-Day, (1944). It's when the Allied armies launched the invasion of Normandy. Dwight D. Eisenhower had planned the invasion, and had been arguing for it ever since America got into the war after Pearl Harbor. Most British military commanders thought it was too risky. Winston Churchill was particularly nervous about the idea of

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-20097574522977901072007-06-06T01:14:00.001-04:002007-06-06T12:08:27.043-04:00

Internet culture, often portrayed as the vanguard of progress, is actually a jungle peopled by intellectual yahoos and digital thieves, according to a Silicon Valley entrepreneur-turned-dissenter. Andrew Keen, a 47-year-old Briton who founded dot-com era music startup Audiocafe, argues that basic notions of expertise are under assault amid a cultural shift in favour of the amateurism of blogs,

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-41583459028859786982007-06-06T00:27:00.001-04:002007-06-06T07:33:17.211-04:00

WASHINGTON: Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for lying and obstructing the CIA leak investigation — the probe that showed a White House obsessed with criticism of its decision to go to war. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the highest-ranking White House official sentenced to prison since the Iran-Contra affair, asked for leniency, but a federal

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-83534570686805883512007-06-05T16:24:00.001-04:002007-06-06T12:07:48.741-04:00

Canada's first permanent creation museum is opening its doors on Tuesday and is already sparking criticism from evolution experts. The Big Valley Creation Science Museum, located in the small Albertan town of Big Valley, is a tiny building that explains evolution, geology and paleontology through a biblical lens. The museum cost $300,000 to build and houses a number of displays that present a

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-18767732911073907372007-06-05T06:37:00.001-04:002007-06-05T16:59:04.306-04:00

Update: White House under pressure over Guantanamo ruling -- Background information on Omar Khadr When Omar Khadr appeared at his hearing at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba on June 4, 2007, he was five years older and eight inches taller than when he was captured on July 27, 2002, after a bloody firefight near the Pakistani border in Afghanistan. Khadr, the child of Egyptian and Palestinian parents in a

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-32638119386147823812007-06-04T08:05:00.001-04:002007-06-05T06:47:42.329-04:00

UPDATE: An American military judge abruptly dropped all charges on Monday against Omar Khadr, although it's unlikely to mean freedom for the only Canadian at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.The 20-year-old from the Toronto area, who had been facing charges of murder and terrorism, appeared before a military commission in Guantanamo, where he was expected to be arraigned.Instead, the

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-26413869841372809782007-06-04T07:43:00.001-04:002007-06-04T16:13:04.839-04:00

AMSTERDAM (AP) - Dozens of women posed naked on their bicycles on a bridge over one of Amsterdam's historic canals Sunday - a unique sight even in a city famed for its relaxed attitude toward nudity and sex. They were among 2,000 men and women who participated in a series of four nude group photos in the city in the early hours of the morning as part of the latest project of U.S. photographer

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546868693643214630.post-53571580044531271432007-06-03T07:36:00.001-04:002007-06-03T07:38:02.894-04:00

It was on this day in 1800 that President John Adams arrived in Washington, D.C., for the first time. The capital city, which had been chosen by George Washington as the seat of government for the United States, was still under construction. There were no schools or churches, and only a few stores and hotels. The majority of buildings were shacks for the workers who were building the White House

Richttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00700167391839567172noreply@blogger.com