Can You See Russia From Alaska?

September 14th, 2008

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So, with so many of the Palin/McCain statements proving flagrantly untrue, can you really see Russia from Alaska?

1) No: The Bering Strait is 53 miles across, which means you can’t see Russia across it because of the curvature of the earth. freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2080507/posts

2) Yes: ”and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.” — Sarah Palin

3) Maybe (on a technicality): A Yahoo Answer Poster said, ”Actually, the answer is yes and no. From the mainland, there is no way to see Russia from Alaska. The distance is too great.

However, there are two islands in the Bering Staight – Big Diomede and Little Diomede. The big island is Russian and the small one American. They are 1.5 miles from each other. Interestingly, the International Date Line separates the two, so there is a time difference of 23 hours between the two.”

answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080105000254AAQYxI1

And finally, for fun, catch Tina Fey’s SNL impression of Sarah Palin here…

Using Gmail in Firefox 3

September 2nd, 2008

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It used to be that I had an email address with an account conveniently located on my ISP’s server. IE automatically used Outlook Express, and email was easy. For the past couple of years my email through my new ISP has only been available through the MSN subscription that came packaged with internet access.

Now I don’t really like MSN, and I don’t like IE either.  Like many other people, I’ve made the switch to Firefox and have chosen to use the google, Gmail service.  Using this has been awkward at times as Firefox does not know which email client to use unless it is told how to do so. Lifehacker.com provides a quick solution for getting Firefox to work with Gmail and it works well. It’s as easy as going to their site and copying and pasting a piece of script into your Firefox address bar.

Set Firefox to Use Gmail for ”Mailto” Links

Political Mental Health Break from JibJab

September 1st, 2008

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Ignorance and Inexperience

August 30th, 2008

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By his own admission, John McCain ”don’t know much ’bout the economy,”

By her record, Sarah Palin ”don’t know much foreign policy,”

… What a terrible presidency!

DNC Highlights

August 27th, 2008

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Denver would be a terrific place to be, especially with a floor pass at the Pepsi center.  On Monday night Ted Kennedy addressed the convention with a rousing challenge to believe in positive change and on Tuesday night Hillary Clinton stole the show with her endorsement of Barack Obama and her plea for party unity. Check out Youtube for the videos.

Ted Kennedy

Hillary Clinton

A Beatle’s Blessing

July 11th, 2008

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Gail Renard was 16 when she heard that John Lennon was going to be staying over in Montreal.  She crashed his party with a friend via a fire escape at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel.  Ringing the doorbell during a change of security, Yoko answered the door and let her in for an interview.

Gail stayed for the week of the famous bed in and the recording of ”Give Peace a Chance.” Lennon is recalled as speaking with Gail’s mother on the telephone and gaining her approval; every night Gail went to her own home and bed to sleep.  During the day she acted as Lennon’s liaison to the press, played with Kyoko Lennon in the nearby park, made arrangements for tambourines for the recording session, and hobnobbed with the celebs including Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary, and Allan Ginsberg.

She felt secure in her surroundings and recalls how when an amorous member of the press attempted to kiss her, John intervened and chased him off.  Among the several mementos that he gave her was the song board to Give Peace a Chance which was recently, almost 40 years later, auctioned off at Christies for almost $850,000.  He’d told her, ”hang on to it, it will be worth something one day.”  They had originally guessed that the piece would fetch between 200 and 300,00 pounds.  Renard, an award winning radio and TV writer, commented, saying, ”It’s all monopoly money to me.”

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Read an interview with Gail Renard here.Â

Ozzy News

July 8th, 2008

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Ozzy was recently awarded an undisclosed sum in a judgment against the Daily Star.  The Star had published an article suggesting that Ozzy was too ill to present awards at a recent, British awards ceremony, and said that he had collapsed twice prior to the ceremony, and relied on an electric buggy to get around the set. In addition to the financial award which was donated to Sharon Osbourne’s favorite charity, Ozzy received a profuse apology from the newspaper declaring the allegations untrue and admitting that they never should have been published.

In other news, the Osbournes will be hosting a six episode variety series that will be launched on the Fox network at Christmas.

War Deserter Could Qualify as Refugee says Canadian Court

July 8th, 2008

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Last Friday the Canadian Federal Court ruled that US war deserter, Joshua Key, could qualify for refugee status in Canada. Federal Court Justice, Robert Barnes said that the refugee court had erred previously in denying Key’s bid for asylum and ordered the board to reconsider Key’s application. Citing a case from the US Federal court of appeal, Barnes ruled that supporting evidence for asylum status did not have to meet the threshold of a ”war crime,” as sufficient reason for Key’s refusal to serve.  Barnes said that ”it cannot be seriously challenged,” that some of the conduct that Keys witnessed had violated the Geneva Convention.  The decision was released on July 4th and could affect as many as 100 other deserters in Canada presently according to the Windsor Star.

Key’s had been sent to Iraq for an eight month tour and testified that during that time he witnessed instances of abuse, humiliation, and looting by US military personel. Key’s then experienced debilitating nightmares upon return for a two week leave and said that he could not return.  Seeing no other option, he moved his family to Canada and applied for asylum.

But Who’s Keeping Score?

July 7th, 2008

So how are we doing as a nation at the close of the Bush presidency.  Take a look at these statistics reflecting the USA’s place in the world according to a number of vital parameters for an established and developed nation.  All of these scores were culled from another site that had compiled them throughout the Bush years, some of them have worsened over the past few years.

What will it take to make America truthfully, ”the greatest nation on the earth?”

1) Adult Literacy:
USA #9, Sweden #1, Norway #2

2) Healthcare Quality Index:
USA #37, #1 France, #2 Italy

3) Student Reading Ability:
USA #12, Finland #1, South Korea #2

4) Student Problem Solving Ability:
USA #26, South Korea #1, Finland #2

5) Student Ranking on Mathematics Ability:
USA #24, Hong Kong #1, Finland #2

6) Student Ranking on Science Ability:
USA #19, Finland #1, Japan #2

7) USA Ranking on Life Expectancy:
USA #29, Japan #1, Hong Kong #2

8) USA Ranking on Political Corruption Index:
USA #17, Iceland #1, Finland #2

9) USA Ranking on Environmental Sustainability Index:
USA #45, Finland #1, Norway #2

10) USA Ranking on Infant Mortality:
USA #32, Sweden #1, Finland #2

Jim Carrey’s Revealing Swim Suit

July 6th, 2008

Jim Carrey entertained beach goers in Malibu recently by donning partner, Jenny McCarthy’s swimsuit.  I’d say that the outfit has a certain retro look, and perhaps even harks back to simpler times.

Jim Carrey

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Above: What men wore to the beach in the 1920s and 30s.