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Reliving the Summer of 1990 Diary - Week One
May 24, 2010
Strapping on the spurs to head back to the old west with "Back to the Future: Part III" and gettin' my "Top Gun" on with Nicolas Cage in "Fire Birds."
Last year, I elected to take a trip back in time. Being two lengthy decades since the iconic summer moviegoing bonanza of 1989, I figured it might be a wild experience to trace the weekly releases just as they were scheduled back in the day, spending three months revisiting the pictures of my youth, wondering how they stack up against my corrosive adult perspective. The results were considerably more entertaining than I was expecting, occasionally insightful, and hit most of the gooey notes of nostalgia I was hoping to revive. Besides, any opportunity to rewatch "Uncle Buck" is generally considered a gift in my book.
I had a blast reliving perhaps the last majestic blockbuster summer before the 1990s ruined everything.
While not a barnburner in terms of website hits or personal promotion, the "Reliving the Summer of 1989" diary brought me something more valued than cold numbers or job offers. The diary brought me excited readers. Mail dropped in from around the globe, from lovely film fans eager to express how much of a trip it was to look back on a golden era of multiplex mania. It was positive feedback from kind souls, a rarity in a vocation where the mere appearance of a smashed tomato is cause enough to question my sexual orientation and lob a few death threats my way. Yes, death threats. Sure, there were a few who made the effort to share their thoughts on how I was wasting my time, but for once, a sweet moment indeed, the positive feedback outweighed the negative. I'd be lying if I wrote that I didn't enjoy the brief blast of sun.
Equally as generous were the folks who requested I return to the series for the summer of 1990. This I wasn't expecting. Isn't there some law covering diminishing returns? And I know for a fact that repetition doesn't always entertain the masses. However, I have an ace up my sleeve for this round of jovial remembrance, something I didn't have for 1989…
The Brichives.
Cue the choir. Light up a few Black Cats. Plan the parade. The Brichives are making their online debut.
In January of 1990, I made the decision to start keeping a diary detailing every last film I attended (starting with Oliver Stone's masterpiece, "Born on the Fourth of July" -- a film of such uniquely disquieting content, my local theater scribbled a warning in Sharpie to control the flood of refunds), both as a way to gauge my favorites throughout the year and to monitor the severity of my celluloid addiction. It's a chart I still maintain to this day, but two decades ago, it was an infinitely more rudimentary book of thoughts, numerical scores (leading to best of/worst of lists and the inaugural edition of the now world-famous Orny Awards), and theater memories that could only come from a young, unchallenged, barely teenage mind.
For the "Summer of 1989," I was squeezing my brain to a point of purple to recall moviegoing habits and film reactions. For 1990, most of it has been hastily scribbled down -- my taste at the time solidified on yellowed paper to help tickle my memories and, more often than not, greatly embarrass me.
Sweet mama-jama, I was an easy lay back then.
Armed with golden power of The Brichives (cue choir music, Black Cats, parades), with all of its dangerous secrets and profound shame, why not board the rickety roller coaster of remembrance and zip through the Summer of 1990? I can't think of a better way to beat the heat.Back to the Future: Part III
Nutshell: Trapped yet again in 1955, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) learns his best friend and time-traveling DeLorean inventor Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) is still alive…living in 1885. Zapping back to the origins of Hill Valley, Marty reunites with his beloved pal, while ferocious gunslinger Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) targets the pair for execution. As the countdown to certain doom begins, Marty and Doc race to fix the faulty DeLorean, while a dainty schoolteacher named Clara (Mary Steenburgen) arrives to lure the smitten scientist away from the urgent matters at hand.
1990: Call me captain crazy of the cosmos, but I'm of the opinion that 1989's "Back to the Future: Part II" absolutely equals the original picture in terms of popcorn thrills and filmmaking creativity. Like most sequels, "Future II" lacks the innocence and electric sense of "will this work?" tip-toed wonder that defined the 1985 classic, but creators Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale took the challenge of a sequel seriously (actually two sequels, as the boys filmed "Future II" and "Future III" back-to-back), constructing a cunning cinematic beast that excitedly reworked the first picture with a fresh angle of time-travel terrorism and futurist spectacle, gleefully molding the space-time continuum into quicksand. "Future II" was a finely tuned instrument of mischief, topped off with a delicious cliffhanger that promised even more delirium as the DeLorean-aided antics zoomed down the rabbit hole.
My initial reaction to "Back to the Future: Part III" was slightly less euphoric in 1990. After seven months of wet-lipped, finger-rubbing anticipation for the next round of the series, "Future III" felt…just a little…off. At the time, "Future II" was a manically assembled Tilt-A-Whirl moviegoing experience that shot Marty to the future and the past, leaving him to frantically patch up holes created by his tomfoolery, lest Biff unleash a fresh round of his gummy wrath. "Future III" was a western, slowing down the franchise to smell the daisies, coming off as a film for the filmmakers, who wanted to make a tribute to the oaters of their youth. The homage is reasonable, but the picture felt less like a breakneck conclusion to a masterful madcap adventure and more like a cool-down lap after an exhaustive marathon.
I wouldn't label "Future III" a disappointment at the time. That would be unfair to the cheerful screenplay from Bob Gale that retrofits the energy of the first two pictures into the western milieu, trying valiantly to move the franchise into a fresh setting while still tinkering around with callbacks and inside jokes (at the time, I found it to be "the funniest of the three"). Even to a kid expecting a rocket sled of a conclusion, "Future III" remained a merry closer, playful to the end while stoking what would become a modest personal fascination with westerns stretched out over the next two decades. It doesn't exactly burn rubber, but the second sequel certainly achieved what it set out to do: to bring "Back to the Future" to a calm, peaceful, and hopeful close. I was sad to see it go, but the surprise train finale was an awfully cool exclamation point at the end of a berserk series of time-hopping features. The film leaves you with a righteous kick.
2010: Listen, I like "Future III." No, I love "Future III." It's simply hard to ignore the fact that the film lacks a certain…voltage that propelled the previous two installments to dizzying comedic and adventure heights. "Back to the Future: Part III" is a wonderful, warm, and often wildly clever franchise finisher, but after two features of dense scripting and sci-fi cartwheeling, it's just a little strange to find the whole shebang deflated to a tranquil wild west adventure. 20 years hasn't shifted my ever-so-slight reservation with the picture.
I don't have much in the way of complaints about "Future III," despite what appears to be my disapproval of the final product. The western backdrop of the picture is actually quite a clever way to keep Marty and Doc in the thick of temporal monkey business without having to reheat the formula for yet another feature film. The movie is also a juicy serving of enviable wish fulfillment, taking cast and crew back to the glory days of Cowboys and Indians, gifting the production an opportunity to roll around within a waning genre on Universal's dime. It's a franchise curveball that jerks the series in a new direction, yet retains the essential "Back to the Future" parts under the hood, brought to life once again by the amazing cast and their specialized eccentricity.
Perhaps the most charming addition to "Future III" is the romantic entanglement for Doc Brown. Always the popped-vein mad genius, zipping around the background searching the air for answers, Doc is made the romantic lead of the film, with Lloyd sharing unexpectedly responsive chemistry with Steenburgen. The subplot does steal away some attention from the DeLorean panic at hand, but the relationship finally humanizes the character three pictures into the series, adding a few curls to a personality that was previously imagined as nothing short of a straight arrow. It's wonderful to observe Doc find a soul mate, giving this final chapter a sense of growth and personal stake it wouldn't otherwise have.
Keeping "Future III" inviting is its sense of humor, with the playful script by Gale mixing western tributes with franchise staples, on the hunt for any gag that might provide some connective tissue to the previous films. The slapstick is helped along by Wilson, who delivers a particularly inspired performance as Tannen, turning his role as bully Biff inside out to portray a cold-blooded idiot of the old west. Fox also seizes his share of the laughs in another multi-character role, playing Marty and his Irish immigrant great-great-grandfather. "Future III" retains a great number of laughs, which keeps the whole endeavor from sinking -- it's a quick-witted film that doesn't reach for the same cheeky madness as its forefathers, interested more in a settled tone of reverence (genre icons Pat Buttram, Harry Carey, Jr., and Dub Taylor cameo) and community over complete zaniness. The shift in tone is jarring, but ultimately rewarding.
It's not my intention to sound like a Grinch about "Future III." It's a lovely, rootin' tootin' cowboy romp with a superbly suspenseful runaway train finale, and an apt closer that permits the excitement to continue on beyond the screen. It was an utter joy in 1990, and again in 2010. Only now there's a bittersweet quality in the air, knowing that, in fact, it was the last ride for Marty, Doc, and the DeLorean.
Still, three dazzling movies is quite a legacy to leave behind. And we'll always have this…
Fire Birds
Nutshell: After witnessing the slaughter of his fellow helicopter pilots at the hands of a drug cartel mercenary, Jake Preston (Nicolas Cage) joins the Apache Task Force to exact revenge. Under the tutelage of weary vet Brad Little (Tommy Lee Jones), Jake learns to fly the latest and greatest helicopter from the U.S. Army, utilizing his teacher's experience to become the most dangerous pilot in the air, ready to save the world from drug dealers. Along for the ride is Billie Lee Guthrie (Sean Young), Jake's old flame and a steadfast pilot also involved in the Apache effort.
1990: I can explain the appeal of "Fire Birds" to a 14-year-old boy in simple terms: it was PG-13 and contained plenty of blow-em-up material. At the time, there wasn't much more required to compel me to spend some matinee coin.
I delighted in "Fire Birds" back in the day (even saw it twice, making me the only human being on the planet to make such a claim), viewing it as a shameless "Top Gun" rip-off that actually bested the Tom Cruise phenomenon in terms of action and performance. A broad claim at the time, but "Top Gun" was a lousy movie even then, handing me a reason to root for anything that dared to match its airborne stupidity and filmmaking gloss. Instead of boring old jets, here were helicopters! Instead of an embryonic Tom Cruise, why not a wily Nicolas Cage? Who needs a zombified Kelly McGillis when there's a zombified Sean Young! Even better, there's Tommy Lee Jones doing a superlative impression of a hound dog, chewing on the complex military jargon as though it was a Kong filled with creamy peanut butter.
Disappointingly, "Fire Birds" contained little sex appeal (again, Sean Young), but what it lacked in basic male puppetry it made up for in extended training sequences, "A-Team" style action beats, and the oddball wizardry of Nicolas Cage. It was slight, but crunchy enough to please kids with nothing better to do with their May weekends and military enthusiasts with limited imaginations.
Oddly, when I think of "Fire Birds," I think of this:
Strange, I know. But this line has stuck with me for 20 years. Call it the curse of Cage, but every time I pass by strawberry gum in a store, I softly mutter the invitation to myself.
2010: I knew going into this "Fire Birds" viewing there was little chance the film would provide the same rush of nonsense that felt so right in 1990. I'm older and (possibly) wiser, and derivative crap doesn't hypnotize as much as it used to. "Fire Birds" is a pretty shameless photocopy of "Top Gun," but director David Green (the reason the other one goes by Gordon I suspect) does a competent job sticking to the cartoon basics of the premise, winding the editing tight enough to overlook the atrocious cash-in nature of the production.
Therefore, in a certain way, with the help of insomnia and perhaps the closure of one eye, "Fire Birds" actually works in a minor key. Let's just say it's the best 77-minute Apache helicopter actioner starring Nicolas Cage I've ever seen.
Cage is a good reason to stick through this glorified Stephen J. Cannell television pilot, delivering a performance that's one-half masturbatory quirk and one-half monetary obligation. Cage is bored, but it works for the film, with Green allowing the actor to do pretty much whatever he wants, with the exception of a few expository exchanges -- lines that stiffen Cage to such a degree, I suspect his agent was holding his ankles to prevent the actor from escaping. All air-kicks, slippery seducer, and ace pilot ooze, Cage keeps "Fire Birds" amply volatile, matched well with Jones (in equal check-cashing mode), who also appears to disregard most direction, filling the shallow role with whatever well-honed sass he deems necessary.
Interestingly, it appears "Fire Birds" was pushed through development by Dale Dye, the decorated military man turned omnipresent Hollywood advisor. Snatching writing, producing, and acting credits, it seems "Fire Birds" was Dye's ticket to the big leagues, showing Tinseltown he had what it takes to package a movie together with critical military support.
I stand corrected. Maybe Dye's the only other person to have sat through "Fire Birds" twice during its brief theatrical run.
Opening with a George Bush quote, exploiting the "War on Drugs," and staging a grand finale in the wilds of South America (it looks more like the outskirts of Scottsdale) with a dastardly Red Baron figure, "Fire Birds" practically prints out an enlistment contract from the DVD player -- it's a jingoistic tug that makes the U.S. Military out to be nothing less than a volcanic force for peace, when the reality of the drug war was obviously far less celebratory. But hey, it was 1990. As long as helicopters tore up the sky, Sean Young appeared on camera braless, and strawberry gum was on the menu, everything was going to turn out just right.Coming next week…
Arnold Schwarzenegger takes his ass to Mars in a film so deliriously violent, I'm fairly certain I aged about 10 years while watching it.


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Marcus Martin is a hero.
The Charlottesville protest survivor pushed his fiancée out of the way before being struck by the White Nationalist terrorist, who plowed his Dodge Challenger into a crowd of counterdemonstrators, during the violent neo-Nazi rally on Saturday, The Daily Mail exclusively reports.
Martin's wife-to-be, Marissa Blair, opened up about the life-threatening encounter saying, 'He saved me then he was under the car.' A photo of Martin's body being catapulted through the air after the horrific attack went viral.
According to Blair, she and Martin were chanting "Whose streets? Our streets!" at the intersection when they heard a commotion. "It happened so fast. I felt myself shoved out of the way. [Martin] had pushed me out of the way," she said.
'It was so fast. All he could think was to push me. He saved me then he was under the car. I checked myself and then immediately thought, where's Marcus?"
Blair said she began searching for Marcus where the car had struck several people. "I saw his hat had blood all over it but he wasn't there. I found him with no blood on him." Martin suffered a broken leg.
Martin and Blair returned to the location where he was struck and their friend, Heather Heyer died, to pay his respects to the fallen activist. Martin wore Heather's face on his shirt with a quote from her Facebook page that read, "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."
Martin, Blair and Heyer were near each other when the attack occurred. Blair recalled she and Martin's ride to the hospital and hearing news a "heavyset woman" had succumb to her injuries.
'I started asking around but I knew that it was my friend Heather. She had been standing right in front of Marcus.'
Blair and Heather, 32, had been coworkers at the same law firm.
"What happened here is 100% wrong," Martin told reporters on the scene. "It's a hate crime and Donald Trump won't call it that because it's what he believes in," Martin added.
'I'm still numb. My friend is dead. Heather was with us because this is what Heather believed in. She died standing up for what she believed in," Blair said.
Heyer's family set up a GoFundMe, which has over $225,000 in donations.
SOURCE: Daily Mail, New York Daily News
WATCH: White Supremacist Charlottesville Rally Organizer Flees From Counterprotesters
Black Leaders Denounce Violent Charlottesville Rally
Charlottesville Hero Pushed Fiancée Out Of The Way Of Deranged Terrorist was originally published on newsone.com
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Rest In Power: Notable Black Folks Who We've Lost In 2023
Okay, Let's Talk About THAT Chloe Bailey/Damson Idris Scene In SWARM
Here's What You Should Know About the New, Deadly Fungus in Ohio
Police Identify Man Found Dead Under West 25th Street Bridge in Cleveland
BMF Fans Surprised By Yung Miami's & Big Meech's Appearance


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This week everyone is talking about the Danish study linking walking and biking to school with better concentration. Kids + walking/biking + education = hot topic, right?
The story has legs and is making the rounds on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and news outlets. Everywhere we click (at least in our admittedly bike- & walk-centric world), we see a link to the study.
You've seen it, haven't you?
Like many of you, we get excited about these articles and want to pass the on to our network of friends.
Click! Like! Share! +1!
The resulting flurry of retweets and likes is a good thing, isn't it? "Hey look here's a great story. Let's share it with our friends!" We click and make a difference. And then …. nothing.
For all their worth so many of these stories fade quickly, replaced with the next alt-transpo buzz (like … "e-bikes are coming and they are going to change everything!"). Continue reading


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A classic marketing framework for describing consumer behavior is awareness, interest, desire, and action (AIDA). Tim Ash does a good job of relating the AIDA model to eCommerce and Internet Marketing. Over the past several months, I've been trying to promote the 'A' for awareness with social media with my organization, friends, and family. It's been a surprisingly difficult task.
At work, I routinely collect and share social media examples with peers and managers. Now, I don't consider this a spamming effort. I try to make the content of each message relevant. It might be about relationship building or how businesses are using social media to reach customers. My Starbucks idea is a great example of this.
Here are some typical responses from work:
- Something like "that's nice, come back to me when you can prove it will make a million dollars in 90 days"
- "That would never work here"
- An acknowledgment that it sounds really cool.
- No response, no acknowledgment. I translate this to mean, they are too busy to read the message, they don't understand the message, or they think social media is a home based fad with no business relevance.
I see this as a battle between classic push marketing (paid print ads, internet banners, etc.) and value based marketing (content based where customers elect to see your content). Before I can get people to be 'interested' (AIDA) they need to be aware of just what social media is. The ideas of building relationships, offering helpful services, and being authentic are not new. What is new, is that you would do these activities without charging the customer for each interaction. Awareness.
At home, or with friends, I often hear comments like:
- Why would I put my personal life online? – Pick and choose what you share. But its a good way to build relationships, because people will post what's important to them or what they are passionate about. It definitely gets you past the shallow conversations about the weather!
- "Who has time for that?" – I guess you have less time if you just turn on the TV and plop on the couch. Everyone has the same amount of time in the day. Make your choices about what you'll do with it.
- "I've never heard of that or wouldn't know what to do" – People are creatures of habit. Have you seen the fastest growing segment on Facebook?
How do you promote awareness of social media in your organization, family, or circle of friends? Write me, I'd like to get some insight into what has worked for you and what has not.
Photo Credit: Relationship-Economy


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What Happens When Rampant Asset Inflation Ends?
My new book is #7 on Kindle short reads -> politics and social science: Why Our Status Quo Failed and Is Beyond Reform ($3.95 Kindle ebook, $8.95 print edition)For more, please visit the book's website.
Thank you, Marsha F. ($25), for your splendidly generous contribution to this site-- I am greatly honored by your steadfast support and readership.


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Among the hundreds of thousands crowding the National Mall on Monday for the second inauguration of President Barack Obama, there will be 26 students from University City High School near St. Louis. The students won an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to witness history, and they'll be seated beside U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill.
Are you in the crowd for Obama's inauguration? Use Instagram to snap a photo of yourself in the crowd, tag it #CNN and tell us why you're there. Or add your photo and story via CNN iReport.
By Ray Salazar, Special to CNN
Editor's Note: Ray Salazar is a National Board Certified English teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. He writes about education and Latino issues on the White Rhino Blog. Follow him on Twitter @whiterhinoray.
(CNN) - Finally, Republicans and Democrats know that they need more than mariachis playing behind them to win the Latino vote. By now, almost everyone heard about the Latino influence this presidential election.
The signs were everywhere. Maybe this is the 2012 cosmic event predicted by the Mayan calendar. Now, President Obama must recognize Latino views as he moves forward with economic recovery and immigration policy and farther with education reform.
None of the parties should have been surprised by the Latino vote. On October 7, CNN's "Latino in America: Courting the Latino Vote" reported that more than 60,000 Latinos turn 18 each month across the country, and we care about more than immigration. When Latinos were given a choice between what's more important, immigration or the economy, 74% chose the economy.
Obama's modified DREAM Act did, though, help secure 71% of the Latino vote. Romney's unclear view of immigration reform contributed to only 27% of his Latino vote.
More notably, the Latino vote for Obama exceeded the national Latino average in some battleground states: 87% in Colorado, 80% in Nevada and 82% in Ohio.
These votes indicate that the conversations need to change. For too long, education reform remained a black and white issue, racially and politically. Our educational system as is does not work, especially not for Latinos. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the Latino dropout rate is almost double that of African-Americans and about three times higher than that of whites.
By Gene Carter, Special to CNN
Editor's note: Gene Carter is CEO and executive director of ASCD, an international education leadership association with 150,000 members—superintendents, principals, teachers, professors, and advocates — in more than 145 countries. A veteran educator with experience as a teacher, administrator, superintendent and university professor, Carter took over the helm of ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) in 1992.
As the 2012 presidential campaign builds to what appears to be an incredibly close finish, I am struck by the absence of education in the candidates' ongoing dialogue. Job creation, health care, tax policy, and even Big Bird have been campaign issues, but to date, education policy has only lurked in the background.
Why is this? The results of the 2012 PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools are instructive. According to the survey, 77% of respondents assigned the nation's schools either a C grade or lower; yet the poll says we have confidence in public school teachers. Respondents believe that closing the achievement gap and improving urban schools is important, but they would rather balance the federal budget than improve education.
The U.S. voters' paradoxical views on education make it a difficult issue for presidential candidates to address, and that may be a good thing. Education's lack of prominence on the campaign trail might preserve it from becoming a wedge issue that further divides us.
By Jeanne Allen, Special to CNN
Editor's note: Jeanne Allen is the founder and president of The Center for Education Reform (CER). The center was founded in 1993 to bridge the gap between policy and practice and restore excellence to education.
Schools of Thought has published and will continue to publish other views on this topic in the days up to the election.
"We can fix our schools because we don't get the biggest share of our campaign donations from the teachers' unions."
This short, simple statement from Gov. Mitt Romney in an October 24 speech in Nevada sums up the real distinction between education reformers and protectors of the status quo, and reveals why when it comes to education policy, Romney would be a superior president - because he promised to put children, parents and teachers first, and to "put the teachers' unions behind."
The day has passed when that could be considered a partisan statement. We've heard stronger words, for example, from many Democrats, from former NYC Chancellor Joel Klein (also of the Clinton administration) to former New York City Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz (now of Success Charter Network) who pressed the unions to explain why their contracts were protecting mediocrity instead of boosting high-performing teachers. Pennsylvania Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams helped then-Republican Gov. Tom Ridge push through a charter school law in 1997. And in 2010, Williams ran for governor on a platform of school choice. His core message was that parents and teachers should come ahead of unions. Sound familiar?
Education reform is not, by any stretch, a "Republican" issue. The national Democratic Party has always viewed the education establishment as its bedrock constituency – from unions to school districts. But it's different at the state and local level, where Democrats often reject the status quo, joining in a diverse coalition of voices pressing for significant reforms at every level.
While individually most of those Democrats will vote with their party, they are nevertheless closer to Romney's view of education than they are to Barack Obama's. Many have confided to me that their hope is to change the Democratic Party's culture from one that favors teachers unions to one that favors parents.
But we cannot wait another generation or more for that to happen. Our children only get one chance at a decent education, and the clock is ticking. As former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice put it, "Educational failure puts the United States' future economic prosperity, global position, and physical safety at risk."
by Donna Krache, CNN
For civics teachers (and former civics teachers like me), the presidential election is our equivalent of the Olympics. We prepare for months and pour all our energy into teaching all about the electoral process, looking for ways to make it fun and interesting for students.
If you're a teacher or a parent who is teaching your students about elections, there are free resources from CNN.com that can really help you bring your curriculum to life.
You can find all these resources at the CNN Election Center, but we'll also highlight each one separately here:
Probably the most useful for teachers of civics/government, U.S. history and general social studies is the CNN Electoral Map Calculator. It shows CNN's estimates of who will win which states, as well as states that may be leaning toward a candidate and battleground states. But you and your students can create your own picks and scenarios for this year's race, and you can use the pull-down menu on the right to look at the last two presidential contests. These are great ways to promote geography skills and basic math skills and illustrate to your students the strategy behind political campaigns.
How much time and money are the candidates spending in each state? Now that your students understand the importance of winning Electoral College votes, they can understand why voters in states like Ohio and Florida are seeing lots of political ads, compared to their fellow voters in many other states. Point students to the CNN Campaign Explorer to learn more about the concentration of ads, money and travel in each state.
Finally, if your class is focusing on the topic of public opinion, or if you are interested in helping students improve their skill at interpreting charts and graphs, go to the CNN Poll of Polls interactive. The CNN Poll of Polls is calculated by using three approved polls to arrive at the numbers you see on the charts on different dates. You can quiz students on candidates' percentages on different dates in national polls as well as in battleground states, and you can ask them what factors might account for changes in the polling results.
Share these resources with your colleagues, and share any tips you have for teaching the election in the comments section below.
By Carl Azuz, CNN
(CNN) - The economy, health care and education aren't just top issues for American voters. They're also the concerns of those who'll be voting for the first time in the next U.S. election, four years from now.
In a recent, nationwide survey by Junior Achievement, almost 73% of people between ages 14 and 17 said a top concern was jobs. Students are specifically worried that they'll have trouble finding a job after finishing their education. (The current unemployment rate among Americans ages 16 to 19 is 23.7%.)
The economy as a whole was also cited among those surveyed, with 72% saying they were concerned about America's fiscal health.
And not surprisingly, many teenagers have questions about their education. The cost of college, the quality of education, and the availability of scholarships were reasons why 64% said education was a concern.
Health care was cited by 32% of surveyed students, and the environment rounded out the top five concerns with over 18%.
Students were split over whom they'd vote for this time around. The Obama/Biden ticket got just over 38% support, while the Romney/Ryan ticket received about 37%. The margin of error was +/-3.6%.
Almost half of those surveyed said they didn't think the candidates had good enough plans to help students land a job after wrapping up their education. And more than half - 56.6% - said the candidates were more concerned with winning the election than they were with listening to the American people.
That could contribute to another significant finding: About 14% of the teenagers surveyed said they wouldn't vote in this election even if they were old enough.
You can see a graphic representation of the survey results on the Junior Achievement website.
By Diane Ravitch, Special to CNN
Editor's note: Diane Ravitch was assistant secretary of education in the administration of George H.W. Bush. She is a historian of education and is now a research professor at New York University. She is the author of several books on education, including her latest "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education." She blogs daily at dianeravitch.net and can be followed on Twitter at @DianeRavitch.
Schools of Thought will be publishing other views on this topic in the days up to the election.
(CNN) - Over the past three years, I have been an outspoken critic of the education policies of the Obama administration. In my view, Race to the Top is a disastrous program that is almost indistinguishable from the Bush administration's failed No Child Left Behind legislation. Both programs require teaching to the test, both encourage privatization of our public schools, and both have demoralized the nation's educators while doing nothing to improve education.
But as bad as the Obama education policies are, they are tolerable in comparison to what Mitt Romney plans. Romney claims credit for the academic successes of Massachusetts, but he had nothing to do with the gains in that state, which were enacted 10 years before he became governor. The Massachusetts education reforms doubled the budget for public schools, increased spending on early childhood education, and raised standards for new teachers, but Romney intends to do none of that if elected President.
If elected president, Romney will curtail spending on everything except privatization of public education. He will lower standards for entering the teaching profession. His policies will devastate our public schools and dismantle the education profession. He supports charters and vouchers and welcomes the takeover of public schools by for-profit entrepreneurs. Unlike the Massachusetts reforms that he wrongly takes credit for, he offers not a single idea to improve public education. Romney nowhere acknowledges that free public education is a public responsibility and an essential institution in a democratic society.
Under a Romney administration, I fear not only for the future of public education but for the future of our society. Presently, nearly 25% of American children are growing up in poverty. We lead the advanced nations of the world in child poverty. Romney offers no proposals to reduce that scandalous number. Only government action can make a dent in a problem of that magnitude, but Romney believes in private charity, not government action.
by Donna Krache, CNN
(CNN) Earlier this month, Education Secretary Arne Duncan delivered his state of education speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., which was part self-review of his department's goals and achievements and part campaign speech for his boss, President Obama.
But not all educators are ardent supporters of the president's policies, and they are letting him know.
At about the same time Duncan was giving his speech, education historian and professor Diane Ravitch issued a call to teachers, administrators, parents and students to send letters to the president, expressing their sincere views on his education policies.
In her own draft of a letter to President Obama, Ravitch says, "Please, Mr. President, stop talking about rewarding and punishing teachers. Teachers are professionals, not toddlers." She also asks the president to "stop encouraging the privatization of education" and to "speak out against the spread of for-profit schools." She adds "Please withdraw your support from the failed effort to evaluate teachers by the test scores of their students."
Teacher and education activist Anthony Cody volunteered to help gather the correspondence. In 2009, Cody led the "Teachers' Letters to Obama" effort and collected about 100 letters. That campaign led to a meeting with Secretary Duncan but no change in education policies.
This month, educators and parents sent correspondence to The Campaign for Our Public Schools website. On October 18, Cody compiled nearly 400 letters, almost three-quarters of these from educators. They were printed, bound and sent to the White House last week. Cody told CNN that "the level of frustration now is even higher" among teachers than it was three years ago.
By Donna Krache, CNN
(CNN) The votes are in – among kids – and Barack Obama has "won" a second term as president.
Every four years, Scholastic Classroom Magazines conducts its presidential mock election for students. The Scholastic Student Vote launched its first contest in the presidential election of 1940. The students have been wrong only twice: In 1948, they picked Thomas E. Dewey over Harry S Truman, and in 1960, they "elected" Richard M. Nixon over John F. Kennedy.
The results of this year's election: Barack Obama – 51%, Mitt Romney – 45%. "Other" candidates (who gathered 4%) included write-ins like John McCain, Paul Ryan, Ron Paul and Hillary Clinton.
And, of course, write-ins included some votes for "my mom" and "my dad."
by Lisa Sylvester, CNN
(CNN) This time of the year, even the youngest children know something is up. There's a running stream of political advertisements on television, mail flyers with smiling politicians asking for our vote and the ubiquitous bumper stickers on cars.
You can tell when children are getting their daily dose of politics the moment they start parroting back "I'm Barack Obama/Mitt Romney, and I approve this message."
But making sense of the electoral process can be overwhelming for children.
"One of the problems is civics is not taught adequately in schools. A Democratic system relies on an enlightened citizenry, as Thomas Jefferson said, to meet its goals," says Charles Quigley of the Center for Civic Education, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that promotes civic education.
Schools used to spend more time teaching children about the political process in class. But national education reform's mandate for high-stakes testing has teachers and school administrators now placing more emphasis on math and language arts at the expense of political science, explains Quigley.
The 2010 Civics National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation's Report Card, found the civics performance of twelfth-graders has been slipping. Only 64 percent of high school seniors were performing at or above basic level.
Achievement by U.S. 4th graders in civics was slightly better, with 77 percent at or above basic levels.FULL STORY


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Walk Nelson
Welcome to Walk Nelson
Whether you feel like a shorter walk closer to home or a day walk to get away from it all, it's possible in Nelson!
Welcome to Walk Nelson
Whether you feel like a shorter walk closer to home or a day walk to get away from it all, it's possible in Nelson!
Get some activity in your day using walking routes around town, or head into the hills and forests for some heart thumping, boot stomping fun.
Walk Nelson is divided into seven geographical sections with an overall map of each section showing the general location of walks. Each walk has route directions, and average time required.
See the symbol on each walk for the grade and refer to the legend for an explanation of symbols.
- Nelson Central Walks
- Port Hills Walks
- Atawhai and North Nelson Walks
- Maitai Valley and Brook Valley Walks
- Nelson South Walks
- Stoke and Enner Glynn Walks
- Tahunanui and Tahunanui Hills Walks
The times for each walk are based on a medium paced family walk time.
Keep it fun for all
- Respect other track users, especially when using shared pathways
- Leave gates as you found them
- Be prepared for challenging weather conditions
- Ensure children are supervised
- Don't forget sun protection and water
- On those walks where dogs are allowed, always carry a leash and use a 'doggy doo' bag. When a walk passes through more than one type of dog control area, two dog icons are given.
Be aware that tracks on the rural walks may be affected by slips, changes to gates or other altered conditions.
- well marked
- easy and well formed
- for all ages and fitness levels
- boots not necessary
- some suitable for disabled visitors
- few steep sections
Walking Track
- well marked
- for most fitness levels
- boots not generally needed
- waterways usually bridged
Tramping track
- marked but often not benched
- may be steep and rough in some places
- some unbridged waterways
- boots advisable
- moderate fitness level
No dogs
dogs on leash
suitable for biking
suitable for baby buggies


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Every school will have an actively engaged site CSIP leadership team that promotes and embraces collective responsibility to meet the needs of every child, every day through a culturally responsive multi-level system of support.
We believe we can responsively meet the needs of all students and raise overall achievement by working with site CSIP leadership teams to coordinate leadership training in building high functioning learning communities to coach for academic/behavior/cultural expertise, and to effectively use assessment data to support the improvement of learning and teaching.
Success for Every Student, Every day


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- Collections
- /
- Natural Textures
- /
- Velvet
- /
- Rembrandt
A premium cotton velvet that offers a soft plush low pile and with a subtle sheen that makes luxurious upholstery and irresistible drapes. A quintessential velvet for aesthetics from traditional to contemporary. The Rembrandt collection is available in an opulent palette of over 80 stunning colours, and available Fire Rated post production.
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Technical SpecificationsDownload Spec Sheet
Order Code REMBRANDT / 598743 CHAMOIS
Type Velvet
Application Upholstery, Drapery
Collection Rembrandt
Content 100% Cotton
Width / SQFT 55''
Abrasion 40,000 DR Wyzenbeek
Origin Holland
Lead Time 10-12 Days
Weight (Oz) 20
Flammability Available FR - 100 Yard Minimum, Inquire
Minimum 1
CFA Available Yes
Performance Available Fr From Weaver


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88,02 €
293,40 €
Warning: Last items in stock!
Clutch bag from our Dama Blanca collection. Handcrafted by Barada in Lamb Skin (fantasy engraved) and Golden color.It features a locked flap over closure. It has metallic chain handles and an interior zipped pocket and double flat pocket.
Availability date:
Quality: Lamb Skin (fantasy engraved).
Handdle: Metallic Chain handles.
Closure: Locked flap over.
Size: 31.5 X 18 X 7 cm.
All Barada Bags are handcrafted in Europe (Ubrique-Spain) by expert leather craftmen, using the best quality leather and materials. All Barada Luxury bags undergo the most strict quality controls.


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Not everyone willing to give swine flu vaccine a shot
Brian Doherty isn't in any high-risk group for the H1N1 flu. But even if he were, he wants no part of a vaccine – pandemic or not.
"Why put something in your body if you don't need to?" the Marshfield, resident said.
Others are anxious for the vaccine to arrive. Patty Harkins of Braintree plans to get herself and her 8-year-old son vaccinated, just like they do each year for the seasonal flu.
Regardless of what the experts say about the need to get vaccinated for the swine flu, fear of the potential side effects has convinced many that it doesn't make sense for them, or their children.
In a national poll conducted in August for the University of Michigan, 40 percent of parents asked said their children would get the H1N1 vaccine, while 29 percent said their children wouldn't get it, and 31 percent said they weren't sure. A more recent poll, done this month for Massachusetts-based health care communications company Silverlink, found only 31 percent of Americans surveyed planned to get a shot.
The World Health Organization is calling the outbreak a pandemic and the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology predict as many as 90,000 H1N1-related deaths this season. Locally, 18-year-old Matt Healey of Hingham, died Saturday after contracting swine flu shortly after arriving at Miami University in Ohio.
Many are concerned about the possible side effects of a new vaccine. But local health professionals say the vaccine is likely to be as safe as a seasonal flu shot.
"I hope we can educate the masses that the benefits of these vaccines are likely to significantly outweigh the risks," said Dr. Todd Ellerin, chief of infectious diseases at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth.
Ellerin said that some patients fear they and their children will be used as guinea pigs for an untested vaccine. But, he said, the vaccine has already been tested "on thousands of patients, and we know already that there are no common severe side effects."
Mark Ferriter, out for a stroll Tuesday in Quincy Center with his wife and 11/2 year-old son, has concerns about side effects. Still, he has no hesitation about getting his child vaccinated.
"They say to get it for babies," the Quincy resident said.
Besides younger people, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention identified four other groups of people who should get the vaccine: pregnant women; people who have contact with infants younger than 6 months old; health care workers; and 25- to 64-year-olds who are at higher risk for the flu because of medical conditions.
The H1N1 shot "has a safety profile similar to regular seasonal vaccines," said Dr. Robert Dart, director of medical operations at Quincy Medical Center.
Soreness at the injection site, a typical result of vaccinations, is part of the process of developing immunity, he said. Besides a low risk of an allergic reaction, he said, the vaccine is expected to be safe.
Dart will be among those getting a shot.
"I got my flu shot and I'll get this one, too," he said. "I'll have two sore arms this year, instead of one."
The Patriot Ledger
Those at higher risk of serious complications from the flu, whether it's the seasonal flu or H1N1 variation, include:
- People older than 64
- Children younger than 5
- Pregnant women
- People of any age with chronic medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease)
- People with suppressed immune systems
What to watch for
Symptoms of the H1N1 flu virus are akin to those for seasonal flu and include:
Sore throat
Runny or stuffy nose
Body aches
Diarrhea and vomiting, in some cases
Who should receive the H1N1 vaccine?
- Pregnant women
- Household contacts and caregivers for children younger than 6 months
- Health care and emergency medical services personnel
- People 6 months through 24 years of age
- People 25 to 64 years old who have health conditions associated with higher risk of medical complications from influenza
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention


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California Democratic Rep. John Garamendi — who represents a key Northern California swing district near Sacramento — said today that Congress should "stop talking and take action" on President Obama's gun proposals.
In the 113th Congress, "we have the debt ceiling and sequestration and God knows what else. We have a lot of things to deal with," he said in a phone interview Thursday. He called for the House to quickly deal with the gun safety issue with "an up or down vote — and move on."
"If I were a Republican, I'd put this on the floor now and force the Democrats to stop talking — and take action," he said. "If I were a Democratic leader, I'd do the same: 'OK guys, let's see where you stand. Let's hold each of us accountable."'
Because "at the end of the day, only a handful of people and minds are going to be changed," he said.
Garamendi, from Walnut Grove, is one of the California Democrats who were the focus of a story we did today about the possible dilemma for Democrats in swing districts.
CA CD-3, which he represents, has a robust percentage both rural voters and Republicans, and Garamendi says he is listening to their concerns.
But the former California Lt. Governor and Insurance Commissioner said that the NRA-gun rights lobby has gone over the top in suggesting President Obama is trying to take away guns from law-abiding citizens.
He said they only need look at the impacts in California, where tough gun laws have been in place for more than a decade.
"The president's proposals are less than the current laws in CA…they're significantly less," he said. "For California, you may not like the laws — but some have been in place for 20 years. This is not a big deal in reality," he said.
California's experience shows that "for the legal, law abiding — and not crazy — citizen, life goes on," he said. "The Second Amendment has gone on. People have their rifles, their shotguns, their automatic weapons."
Garamendi said he's hearing from constituents on both sides of the argument, and "the letters are mostly thoughtful."
"Though frankly, I'm a little surprised that ti's not more robust on both sides," he said.


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Wolf Blitzer delivers the most important breaking news and political, international, and national security stories of the day. Tune to The Situation Room weekdays 5-7pm ET on CNN.
Lawmakers say meeting Susan Rice didn't ease concerns over the handling of the Benghazi attack. CNN's Dana Bash reports.
RELATED STORY: Accomplished and determined, Susan Rice at center of political storm
Blah, Blah, blah, blah................
Our ally and friend Isreal needs more than lip service Hammas are cowards using their children as shields; we all know this. The United States needs to send a strong message to cease and disist a last warning or else, we all know where all this is going. Iran is already resupplying weapons to the Gaza Strip.
Also our law makers and all in charge ought to point their high powered perception on their selves. What a joke! Leave Mrs. Rice alone!!
Rice can make an error in a fast moving fluid situation but George Bush can mislead an entire country for his own hawkish motives and send thousands of men to Iraq and many too their death. Why is there so much made of Rice's original comments; this was a terrible tragedy in an incredibly unstable country.
In the 2003 State of the Union address, George Bush relied on Cheney vetted information that was false about Iraq pursing WMD. The forged data had been discredited, but was pursued to protect Bush for his prosecution of the war in Iraq that has cost more than 4400 US soldier lives and almost a trillion dollars.Mr Bush spoke from talking points, whether he knew they were false or not. Susan Rice relied on talking points and is being unfairly villified by Republicans who have convenienty forgotten WMD, Bush and Cheney. Shame on them.
Don't Republicans have better things to do with their time rather than do Witch Hunts. They did Timothy Geitner, Eric Holder, and now Rice.....whatever they can seem to drum up at the time and then after person has been cleared like Holder they give no apologies but just move on like nothing happened. It's selective outrage; they did nothing when Condeleeza, Colin Powell, Cheney, Bush all lied to America and killed thousands of Americans in an Iraq war which should not have happened. Republicans were not mad at that. The government and Rice did nothing wrong but try to be on top of the Bengazi story and information normally evolves. And I recall the media covering people protesting outside who was not alqueda. Republicans need to be focusing on the economy, fiscal cliff, health care which would make them look a lot better in the eyes of Americans.
Eric you actually thought the Republicans would eat their words? Don't be naive – they prejudged her and that is the only story here
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Molly, the Seventeen Beauty Assistant, tests everything and now she's giving you full access! Follow her at seventeen.com/beautycloset.
Concealer is one of those beauty products I just can't live without.
Seriously. It's like a mini-miracle-maker for your face. Even when I want to go
makeup-free for the day, I still
(secretly) swipe a little cover-up under my eyes and around my nose to
even out my complexion. For years, I've tested every new concealer that ended up in the closet.
Here's a few of my faves:
More From Seventeen
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer: The yellow-based colors make finding
your perfect match so easy.
TarteMaracuja Creaseless Waterproof Concealer: This will not budge or
crease, even in sweaty, humid summer weather—perfect for around the eyes.
CoverGirl CG Smoothers Concealer: The bullet shape allows you to apply
it to your face straight from the tube. It packs vitamin E and chamomile to
nourish your skin.
the darkest of dark circles. It's perfect for when you need serious coverage,
but it still feels light and silky, never cake-y.
Try this pro tip: Most people use a flat concealer brush to apply their
cover-up, but a soft fluffy rounded brush will give you an air-brushed effect.
Use light, circular motions to blend for undetectable results!
Try Sonia KashukPointed Blending Brush
Do you use any of these concealers? Which makeup product are you obsessed with? Sound off in the comments!


text:
19 x G9 LED bulbs, 4W Power, Non Dimmable (bulbs not included for North America)
Color Temperature - 3000 Kelvin
|Dimensions / Weight
Height: 66.9"| 170 cm
Diam: 16.5"" | 42 cm
Weight: Approx.: 25 kg | 55.1 lbs
Body: Brass
This item ships via UPS. Standard Delivery: Monday to Friday via UPS within 2-6 working days. The cost is calculated based upon the delivery destination and weight of the consignment; and this is shown at the checkout stage.
If the goods received are not as expected or not suitable you may return them subject to our Returns Policy.
This item must be returned in the factory carton packed exactly as it was shipped otherwise returns will not be accepted. Made to order and customized items can't be returned.
If you have any further questions please contact Customer Care at firstname.lastname@example.com or call +351 911 776 379.
Please review our Terms and Conditions for further information


text:
Planets: Glossary
- asteroid
- a rocky object in space that can be a few feet wide to several hundred miles wide. Most Solar System asteroids orbit in a belt between Mars and Jupiter
- astro
- a word prefix that means "star" in the Greek language
- astronaut
- a person who travels in space. The word 'astronaut' comes from the Greek words meaning "space sailor."
- astronomer
- a scientist who makes observations and studies planets, stars, galaxies any anything else in space
- astronomical unit
- a unit of length used by astronomers. One astronomical unit equals the distance from Earth to the Sun: 93 million miles
- astronomy
- the study of everything that is or was in space beyond the Earth's atmosphere. Astronomy is the oldest science, dating back thousands of years to when people noticed objects in the sky overhead and watched how they moved
- astrophysics
- a branch of astronomy. It is the investigation of objects in space by remote sensing from Earth or its vicinity
- atmosphere
- the layer of gases surrounding the earth that has gravity strong enough to prevent the gases from escaping into space
- aurora
- a glow over the polar regions caused by the interaction between Earth's magnetic field and charged particles from the Sun
- Big Bang Theory
- a theory that says that the universe began with the rapid expansion of all space, time, and matter from a single point
- black dwarf
- the remains of a white dwarf after it cools
- black hole
- super dense invisible objects in outer space that form when a massive star collapses from its own gravity. Black holes have such an enormous amount of gravity that nothing, not even light, ca escape from them
- celestial body
- an object that is located in outer space
- comet
- a small frozen mass of gas, dust, and ice. Comets revolve around the Sun or pass through the Solar System in elliptical orbit
- commander
- often the pilot. Commanders are responsible for the vehicle, the crew, mission success, and safety
- constellation
- groups of stars in that people have imagined to represent various objects or mythical beings
- cosmonaut
- the Russian term for an astronaut
- crater
- a hole formed by a meteorite hitting the surface of a planet or a moon dark matter
- criteria
- A rule or principle for testing something
- elliptical
- shaped like an egg, but with equal ends
- embryonic star cloud
- (another name for nebula) huge cocoons of dust grains, gas, and molecules that are the birthplace of stars
- Galileo Galilei
- (1564-1642) - Italian mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. In 1609, Galileo was the first person to use a telescope to observe the skies. Galileo discovered the rings of Saturn, was the first person to see the four major moons of Jupiter, observed the phases of Venus, and studied sunspots
- galaxy
- a huge collection of stars, nebulae, star clusters, and dust and gas that measures many light years across. A galaxy's shape can be elliptical, spiral, or irregular
- gravity
- the attractive force of a body. The larger or more dense the body, the greater the gravitational force
- light year
- units used t o measure distance in space. One light-year is the distance light can travel in one year, which is about 6,000,000,000,000 (6 trillion) miles, or 9,500,000,000,000 kilometers
- Milky Way
- the galaxy that contains the solar system
- meteor
- a meteoroid that enters the Earth's atmosphere, heats up, and looks like a brief streak of fire in the sky
- meteor shower
- what you might see when Earth passes through the tail of a very old comet. During a shower you might see between 30 - 80 meteors an hour. Two well-known major showers are the Perseid shower, which peaks in mid-August, and the Geminid shower, which peaks in mid-December
- meteorite
- a part of a meteor that does not burn up when it enters the Earth's atmosphere but falls to the Earth's surface
- meteoroid
- a piece of stone or metal that travels in space around the sun
- mission specialist
- astronauts in charge of on-board operations. They release satellites into space, operate scientific or engineering experiments, repair satellites and operate equipment in the Shuttle's payload bay
- moon
- one of a planet's natural satellites, generally no smaller than ten miles in diameter. There are more than fifty known moons in the Solar System, including Earth's
- the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA is in charge of all space programs for the United States
- navigation
- directing the course of a ship or other craft
- nebula
- (another name for embryonic star cloud) a cloud of dust and gas in space in which a star is born
- neutron star
- a rapidly spinning, extremely dense star composed of mainly neutrons (parts of an atom). Neutron stars are the leftovers of a supernova. They are only about 10 miles across, but are very dense
- nonluminous
- not emitting light or not visible. Material that cannot be seen in the sky. Dark matter is one of the most mysterious things in the universe. Scientists think that dark matter occurs everywhere but they don't yet know exactly what it is made of
- optical telescope
- a telescope that uses mirrors to reflect an image to the observer
- orbit
- the path followed by an object in space as it moves moves around another object
- payload
- in space flight, the passengers, crew, instruments, or equipment carried by a spacecraft
- payload specialist
- professionals from life sciences or physical sciences fields. They can also be skilled technicians who are trained to operate special equipment on the mission
- pilot
- controls and operates the shuttle
- planet
- a spherical object that orbits a central star and reflects the sun's light. Its diameter can vary but is usually between 1,000 and 100,000 miles
- pulsar
- Pulsars are thought to be rapidly rotating neutron stars with very strong magnetic fields. Bursts of energy are detected on earth from a pulsar at spaced intervals of several seconds or less
- radio telescope
- a telescope that studies planets, star, galaxies and other astronomical objects by using the radio waves they emit. These waves are longer than light waves and need very large antennas or arrays of antennas to capture them
- radio wave
- electromagnetic radiation. Other types of electromagnetic radiation are heat, light, and X-rays
- red giant
- a star that becomes cooler, swells and glows with a red color. This happens after a medium-sized star has used up all its energy and begins to collapse
- reflector
- a telescope in which the main light gathering element is a mirror
- refractor
- a telescope in which the main light gathering element is a lens, known as the objective, or object lens
- remote sensing
- the process of collecting information with instruments that record various forms of energy
- revolution
- the orbital motion of one object around another. The Earth revolves around the Sun in one year. The moon revolves around the Earth in approximately 28 days
- rotate
- to turn around a center point, or axis, like a wheel turns on a bicycle
- satellite
- a small object revolving around a larger object. Satellites can be natural, such as moons, or they can be artificial objects sent into orbit around the earth, such as communication, weather and navigation satellites
- shooting star
- another name for a meteor
- solar
- relating to the sun
- solar flare
- a storm or eruption of hot gases on the sun
- solar system
- the sun, and all the planets and other objects that orbit around it
- solar wind
- streams of gas particles flowing out from the sun
- space probe
- an unmanned research spacecraft sent into space
- spectroscope
- an instrument that breaks up white light from a star into its different colors. This information is used to determine the surface temperature of the star which helps to determine its age
- spectrum
- the colors you see when white light is split apart. The order of the colors is: violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. A rainbow is a natural spectrum
- speed of light
- light travels at 186,000 miles per second, or 299,792,458 meters per second. Albert Einstein predicted that nothing can go faster than the speed of light
- sunspot
- a dark area on the sun's surface that is cooler than the area around it
- supernova
- a great explosion that gives off tremendous amounts of light at the end of a star's life cycle. A supernova can become a neutron star or a black hole
- telescope
- an instrument that can make faraway things appear closer. There are optical, reflecting, refracting, radio, and telescopes in space
Click on a Topic:
- Ages Past
- Animals
- Earth Science
- Environment
- Human Body
- Science Fundamentals
- Space
- Technology
- Other


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This weekend at Music Hack Day Reykjavik I built a music hack called Infinite Gangnam Style. This hack takes the viral hit by Psy and creates a never ending, ever changing version of the song. Here's a video of it:
The app works by taking the audio and analyzing it with The Echo Nest analyzer to break it up into its individual beats. Next, an analysis pass is run on all the beats finding each beat's nearest similar sounding neighbors that fall within a similarity threshold. Then, the song is played beat-by-beat – but with the added twist that any time we play a particular beat there's a chance that we will transition instead to one of the beat's similar sounding neighbors. For a pop song like Gangnam Style there's lots of repetition so there's plenty of good transition points. The result is that we can loop through the song forever with the song always morphing.
Since the Gangnam Style video is a key part of the song, I've included a dynamically remixed video in the web app too. (The mixing is done just be image swapping, there's no way to dynamically control a video player as far as I know, which is why this app will load about 2000 images ;).
Check out Infinite Gangnam Style and the rest of the Music Hack Day Reykjavik Hacks.
Update: Check out the iPhone version
This hack was inspired by Tristan's "James Brown Forever " hack.


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[Editor's note: This is a guest post by Lindsey Lewis, yoga teacher + life coach who blogs at www.libreliving.com.]
I was sick of being tired, and tired of being sick. I had scored my dream job—assistant editor at a top-earning Canadian magazine. Scratch that. It was all I'd dreamt it would be, it just didn't feel like a dream. I wasn't sleeping, wasn't digesting food, wasn't at ease, wasn't happy. My anxiety was through the roof. One day I saw an ad in the magazine for a health and wellness company. I felt a tingling in my spine all the way up to the top of my head. I called the number, sent an email, met a dark-haired woman who hired me practically on the spot. I was out. I was free.
I had a thriving copy-writing, communications consulting business, where I scored new clients nearly always by word-of-mouth. I was teaching yoga, too (I'll always be teaching yoga, too). The work was full-time. I wasn't full-filled. I got an email from a friend, a forwarded job posting for an online yoga company. Work from home, be part of a great team, share the benefits of yoga, 15 hours a week. My mind said, "It's 15 hours a week. Where would you find that time to add that to what you're doing? And it's not enough to replace what you're doing." My body and beyond all that said, "You should go for it. Good things will come from this." I sent an email, met a strong-as-iron, gentle woman who hired me practically on the spot. Soon I was working every day for what I love. I was in. I was still free.
I was in line at the airport security check. It was long. I spotted the one to my right—much shorter. I took two steps over, looked back at the desk I had been originally headed for, and felt that I should stay put. I stayed put, the man at the desk for the line-up I was going to switch to shut it down, and everyone headed to the back of my line.
I was co-conducting an interview. After, my colleague asked me what I thought of the candidate. I felt that she would leave soon, had a visual image of her walking away. My mind asked me if I was crazy—the girl was perfect! I said I thought she was great and we should hire her. (I was tired of looking.) We offered her the job. She accepted. The next week she sent us an email with her apologies: she realized her heart wasn't in it.
I was about to cross a street, had taken one step off the sidewalk and was lifting my other foot. The image of a dark grey sedan careening around the corner flashed through my mind. I paused. The dark grey sedan careened around the corner, narrowly missing my foot.
The stories go on. And yours might, too. If they don't, and if you're thinking, "What kind of woo-woo juju is this gal on?" then feel free to move along. If they don't, and you're thinking "I don't care if this is woo-woo juju, I want some of it," then feel free to read on.
Intuition isn't weird, unusual, or strange. We're biologically hard-wired to be able to know without knowing. That is, we can understand something and have knowledge of it without thinking we do. We take the knowing out of our rational mind. We go beyond it.
The August issue of Oprah magazine has a comprehensive article on the scientific basis of our intuitive instincts. Here's some facts worth noting:
- Our bodies send us signals long before our mind catches on. Sweaty palms, a subtle increase in heart-rate or blood pressure, tension in our stomach, shoulders and throat.
- We can see with our eyes closed. Fact: People who have gone blind because of brain damage can often still navigate an obstacle course.
- Few wild animals were killed in the tsunami that crashed around the Indian Ocean in 2004. Researchers surmise they were alerted by sound waves or ground vibrations. Researchers also state that humans have this ability, but have stopped paying attention to it in today's busy, distraction-laden society.
- Meditate. A 2005 study found that people who meditate had more gray matter in the brain regions associated with sensitivity to the body's signals and sensory processing.
- Do a somatic, mind-body practice. Yoga works here, but any physical practice done mindfully, where you become increasingly attuned to your body's signals, will work, too.
- Trust your in-sight. Images that flash across your inner vision can be gone in seconds, but like in my case with the careening car, can also save you for the rest of your life. Paying attention to these images, combined with your awareness of your body's signals, can lead to a smarter decision.
- Practice mindfulness. Simply practicing paying full, conscious attention—to whatever you're doing—can help develop your mindfulness muscle. This is the muscle that will enable you to tune into subtle environmental changes—like the wild animals who survived the tsunami—so you can survive your next meeting with your unpredictable boss.
- Build your intuitive muscle. Take a somewhat inconsequential activity and practice using your intuition. For example: While grocery-shopping, and looking for a particular item, see if your instincts can tell you which aisle it's in. Or, when observing someone, let yourself go with your gut in terms of what that person might be feeling at the moment, and interact with them based on that, rather than what they are consciously projecting. Or close your eyes and take a walk—in a safe space.
Good luck! You can do it!!
Related articles
- Stressed? 10 De-Stress Yoga Tips (dailycupofyoga.com)


text:
InnoDB Notes:
This release includes
InnoDB1.0.6. This version is considered of Release Candidate (RC) quality.
Functionality added or changed:
Replication: Introduced the
binlog_direct_non_transactional_updatessystem variable. Enabling this variable causes updates using the statement-based logging format to tables using nontransactional engines to be written directly to the binary log, rather than to the transaction cache.
Before enabling this variable, be certain that you have no dependencies between transactional and nontransactional tables. A statement that both selects from an
InnoDBtable and inserts into a
MyISAMtable is an example of such a dependency. For more information, see Section 22.214.171.124, "Binary Log Options and Variables". (Bug#46364)
Bugs fixed:
Performance: Partitioning: When used on partitioned tables, the
records_in_rangehandler call checked more partitions than necessary. The fix for this issue reduces the number of unpruned partitions checked for statistics in partition range checking, which has resulted in some partition operations being performed up to 2-10 times faster than before this change was made, when testing with tables having 1024 partitions. (Bug#48846)
Performance: The method for comparing
INFORMATION_SCHEMAnames and database names was nonoptimal and an improvement was made: When the database name length is already known, a length check is made first and content comparison skipped if the lengths are unequal. (Bug#49501)
Performance: The
SHA1()functions had excessive overhead for short strings. (Bug#49491)
Security Fix: For servers built with yaSSL, a preauthorization buffer overflow could cause memory corruption or a server crash. We thank Evgeny Legerov from Intevydis for providing us with a proof-of-concept script that permitted us to reproduce this bug. (Bug#50227, CVE-2009-4484)
Incompatible Change: In
plugin.h, the
MYSQL_REPLICATION_PLUGINsymbol was out of synchrony with its value in MySQL 6.0 because the lower-valued
MYSQL_AUDIT_PLUGINwas not present. To correct this,
MYSQL_AUDIT_PLUGINhas been added in MySQL 5.5, changing the value of
MYSQL_REPLICATION_PLUGINfrom 5 to 6. Attempts to load the audit plugin produce an error occurs because only the
MYSQL_AUDIT_PLUGINsymbol was added, not the audit plugin itself. This error will go away when the audit plugin is added to MySQL 5.5 (in 5.5.3). Replication plugins from earlier 5.5.x releases must be recompiled against the current release before they will work with the current release. (Bug#49894)
Important Change: Replication: The
RAND()function is now marked as unsafe for statement-based replication. Using this function now generates a warning when
binlog_format=STATEMENTand causes the format to switch to row-based logging when
This change is being introduced because, when
RAND()was logged in statement mode, the seed was also written to the binary log, so the replication slave generated the same sequence of random numbers as was generated on the master. While this could make replication work in some cases, the order of affected rows was still not guaranteed when this function was used in statements that could update multiple rows, such as
INSERT ... SELECT; if the master and the slave retrieved rows in different order, they began to diverge. (Bug#49222)
Partitioning: InnoDB Storage Engine: When an
ALTER TABLE ... REORGANIZE PARTITIONstatement on an
InnoDBtable failed due to
innodb_lock_wait_timeoutexpiring while waiting for a lock,
InnoDBdid not clean up any temporary files or tables which it had created. Attempting to reissue the
ALTER TABLEstatement following the timeout could lead to storage engine errors, or possibly a crash of the server. (Bug#47343)
InnoDB Storage Engine: Creating or dropping a table with 1023 transactions active caused an assertion failure. (Bug#49238)
InnoDB Storage Engine: If
innodb_force_recoverywas set to 4 or higher, the server could crash when opening an
InnoDBtable containing an auto-increment column. MySQL versions 5.1.31 and later were affected. (Bug#46193)
FLUSH LOGScould in some circumstances crash the server. This occurred because the I/O thread could concurrently access the relay log I/O cache while another thread was performing the
FLUSH LOGS, which closes and reopens the relay log and, while doing so, initializes (or re-initializes) its I/O cache. This could cause problems if some other thread (in this case, the I/O thread) is accessing it at the same time.
Now the thread performing the
FLUSH LOGStakes a lock on the relay log before actually flushing it. (Bug#50364)
See also Bug#53657.
Replication: With semisynchronous replication, memory allocated for handling transactions could be freed while still in use, resulting in a server crash. (Bug#50157)
Replication: In some cases, inserting into a table with many columns could cause the binary log to become corrupted. (Bug#50018)
See also Bug#42749.
Replication: When using row-based replication, setting a
CHARcolumn of a
MyISAMtable to
NULL, then trying to delete from the table, caused the slave to fail with the error Can't find record in
table. (Bug#49481, Bug#49482)
Replication: A
LOAD DATA INFILEstatement that loaded data into a table having a column name that had to be escaped (such as
`key` INT) caused replication to fail when logging in mixed or statement mode. In such cases, the master wrote the
LOAD DATAevent into the binary log without escaping the column names. (Bug#49479)
See also Bug#47927.
Replication: When logging in row-based mode, DDL statements are actually logged as statements; however, statements that affected temporary tables and followed DDL statements failed to reset the binary log format to
ROW, with the result that these statements were logged using the statement-based format. Now the state of
binlog_formatis restored after a DDL statement has been written to the binary log. (Bug#49132)
Replication: Spatial data types caused row-based replication to crash. (Bug#48776)
Replication: When using row-based logging, the statement
CREATE TABLE t IF NOT EXIST ... SELECTwas logged as
CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE t IF NOT EXIST ... SELECTwhen
talready existed as a temporary table. This was caused by the fact that the temporary table was opened and the results of the
SELECTwere inserted into it when a temporary table existed and had the same name.
Now, when this statement is executed,
tis created as a base table, the results of the
SELECTare inserted into it—even if there already exists a temporary table having the same name—and the statement is logged correctly. (Bug#47418)
See also Bug#47442.
Replication: Due to a change in the size of event representations in the binary log, when replicating from a MySQL 4.1 master to a slave running MySQL 5.0.60 or later, the
START SLAVE UNTILstatement did not function correctly, stopping at the wrong position in the log. Now the slave detects that the master is using the older version of the binary log format, and corrects for the difference in event size, so that the slave stops in the correct position. (Bug#47142)
Replication: Manually removing entries from the binary log index file on a replication master could cause the server to repeatedly send the same binary log file to slaves. (Bug#28421)
The SSL certificates in the test suite were about to expire. They have been updated with expiration dates in the year 2015. (Bug#50642)
SPATIALindexes were permitted on columns with non-spatial data types, resulting in a server crash for subsequent table inserts. (Bug#50574)
Index prefixes could be specified with a length greater than the associated column, resulting in a server crash for subsequent table inserts. (Bug#50542)
Use of loose index scan optimization for an aggregate function with
DISTINCT(for example,
COUNT(DISTINCT)) could produce incorrect results. (Bug#50539)
printstackfunction does not exist on Solaris 8 or earlier, which would lead to a compilation failure. (Bug#50409)
A user could see tables in
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLESwithout appropriate privileges for them. (Bug#50276)
Debug output for join structures was garbled. (Bug#50271)
The server crashed when an
InnoDBbackground thread attempted to write a message containing a partitioned table name to the error log. (Bug#50201)
Within a stored routine, selecting the result of
CONCAT_WS()with a routine parameter argument into a user variable could return incorrect results. (Bug#50096)
filesortsorting method applied to a
CHAR(0)column could lead to a server crash. (Bug#49897)
EXPLAIN EXTENDED UNION ... ORDER BYcaused a crash when the
ORDER BYreferred to a nonconstant or full-text function or a subquery. (Bug#49734)
Some prepared statements could raise an assertion when re-executed. (Bug#49570)
sql_buffer_resulthad an effect on non-
SELECTstatements, contrary to the documentation. (Bug#49552)
In some cases a subquery need not be evaluated because it returns only aggregate values that can be calculated from table metadata. This sometimes was not handled by the enclosing subquery, resulting in a server crash. (Bug#49512)
Mixing full-text searches and row expressions caused a crash. (Bug#49445)
mysql-test-run.pl now recognizes the
MTR_SHUTDOWN_TIMEOUT, and
MTR_START_TIMEOUTenvironment variables. If they are set, their values are used to set the
--shutdown-timeout, and
--start-timeoutoptions, respectively. (Bug#49210)
strmake()calls had an incorrect length argument (too large by one). (Bug#48983)
On Fedora 12,
strmov()did not guarantee correct operation for overlapping source and destination buffer. Calls were fixed to use an overlap-safe version instead. (Bug#48866)
With one thread waiting for a lock on a table, if another thread dropped the table and created a new table with the same name and structure, the first thread would not notice that the table had been re-created and would try to used cached metadata that belonged to the old table but had been freed. (Bug#48157)
If an invocation of a stored procedure failed in the table-open stage, subsequent invocations that did not fail in that stage could cause a crash. (Bug#47649)
A crash occurred when a user variable that was assigned to a subquery result was used as a result field in a
SELECTstatement with aggregate functions. (Bug#47371)
When the mysql client was invoked with the
--verticaloption, it ignored the
--skip-column-namesoption. (Bug#47147)
The optimizer could continue to execute a query after a storage engine reported an error, leading to a server crash. (Bug#46175)
EXPLAINencountered an error in the query, a memory leak occurred. (Bug#45989)
A race condition on the privilege hash tables permitted one thread to try to delete elements that had already been deleted by another thread. A consequence was that
SET PASSWORDor
FLUSH PRIVILEGEScould cause a crash. (Bug#35589, Bug#35591)
1) In rare cases, if a thread was interrupted during a
FLUSH PRIVILEGESoperation, a debug assertion occurred later due to improper diagnostics area setup. 2) A
KILLoperation could cause a console error message referring to a diagnostic area state without first ensuring that the state existed. (Bug#33982)
ALTER TABLEwith both
DROP COLUMNand
ADD COLUMNclauses could crash or lock up the server. (Bug#31145)
Table_locks_waitedwaited variable was not incremented in the cases that a lock had to be waited for but the waiting thread was killed or the request was aborted. (Bug#30331)


text:
Iraqi Freedom: Referendum on Foreign Military Presence
Dear President Bush: Dear Congressman: \"Are we like the God of the Old Testament that we can decide, in Washington, D.C., what cities, what towns, what hamlets in Vietnam [Iraq] are going to be destroyed ... Do we have to accept that ... I do not think we have to. I think we can do something about it.\" Robert F Kennedy Are we like the God of the Old Testament that we can decide in Washington, DC, what a sovereign country must do Do the Iraqi people have to accept our dictates If sovereign, certainly not! We would not comply if roles were reversed. I think they can do something about it as they determine. The United States, asserts President Bush, has created and is supporting a nascent democracy in Iraq. Is this only pretense The election of the current Iraqi government is acknowledged as validating evidence that the democratic process is functioning. Yet, contrary to fundamental US ideals, the most basic freedom of the sovereign Iraqi people has been usurped...the right to democratically determine their own destiny. While professing the right to liberty, it is shameful, arrogant and hypocritical for American politicians and statesmen to commandeer the policymaking decision process...the process destined to determine Iraq\"s future. Because we have \"broken\" Iraq, does not give us the right to fix it. We do not \"own\" Iraq. The Iraqi people do, and only they have that right. Whether the fix includes the US or not, must be their decision. So it should be for a free sovereign people. Issues debated in the US that should be decided by the Iraqi people include: 1. Continuation of US and coalition military presence in Iraq 2. Withdrawal of US and coalition military presence in Iraq 3. Governance of Iraq 4. Partition of Iraq Therefore, to affirm our belief in the democratic process and a people\'s right to shape their own future, we propose that the United States (in conjunction with its Coalition Partners and the United Nations) request the Iraqi government to hold a referendum whereby the Iraqi people would vote on the issue of the US and Coalition military presence. The referendum, written by the Iraqi government, would give the Iraqi people the means to express whether there would be: 1. Immediate US and Coalition military withdrawal 2. Continuance of US and Coalition military presence with reevaluation by a future referendum if necessary. If immediate withdrawal is the expressed will of the majority of the Iraqi people, it would occur with their consent and would be an expression of their acceptance of the potential consequences. If, contrarily, the winning vote is for continuation of the US and Coalition military presence, we would do so based upon the will of the Iraqi people. In so doing, the continuing sacrifices of our soldiers would be given a new depth of meaning and recognition. Additional, the political will of the American people to remain in Iraq would likely be renewed. Either outcome accompanied by the appropriate response would make evident the US commitment to freedom and self-determination at the most basic and substantial level--a sovereign nation deciding its own approach to its security and future. Our founding fathers risked their security, their lives, in order to attain the right to establish the destiny of a new nation. We should desire no less for the citizens of Iraq. The expression of the free will of the Iraqi people by democratic referendum would honor the heroism of the courageous soldiers who have fought, been wounded and/or given their lives for Iraq. Our compliance would demonstrate to the communities of the world our commitment to freedom and rejection of hegemonic control in Iraq. The domestic and foreign divisiveness surrounding the issue of \"what to do militarily in Iraq\" would be alleviated, if not, resolved. Acting in accordance with our ideals and applying them in the emerging Iraqi democracy would hopefully improve America\"s image in Iraq and around the world and potentially help heal American domestic discord related to the Iraq war. Sincerely, The Undersigned


text:
Galileo 1610
Galileo 1610
A One-Man Dramatic, Musical Production by Mark A. Thompson
It's May, 1609.
Galileo is 45-years old, the father of three illegitimate children; a burned-out, financially-strapped mathematics professor in Padua who is desperately seeking patronage from the ruling Medici family in Florence so he might return to his ancestral home with security-- and he hears about an optical device just invented in the Netherlands that is apparently able to render faraway things as though nearby.
Could we get a glimpse into the mind of a man whose destiny it was to be the first human being to assault the heavens with a telescope, and explain to the rest of us what he saw?
I believe we can, and for over a decade I have endeavored to do just that. Since 1996 I have appeared as Galileo on radio, at community theaters, schools, colleges and universities throughout the United States.
"Certainly I had imagined encounters with Galileo often enough to almost feel his presence in my life, but I never heard the sound of his wonderful singing voice until his alter-ego Mark Thompson serenaded me. Music and humor, like observation and interpretation, helped Galileo make sense of the universe."
Dava Sobel, renowned author of Galileo's Daughter Go back in time and meet "Galileo" on the verge of his sudden trajectory toward fame and invite him to join your organization in celebrating IYA2009.
For more information, please visit: http://www.galileo1610.com or email: email@example.com
International Year of Astronomy 2009


text:
I would have never thought that eating vegetarian would leave me so satisfied. And I don't have the afternoon snackie feeling either. I've done well, down 3lbs this week…but I've also been working out like a fiend. 16km each day on my bike on Tuesday and Wednesday, and working out cardio and weights everyday this week (don't worry, I mix up the muscle groups that I work on!). But I am tired…not quite 25 anymore (who am I kidding, I'm not even 35 anymore!!!).
The foods we have prepared are tasty but I must admit it is a bit of a challenge when you have to find recipes each day to cook (kinda like learning to cook again!). I came up with the Quinoa Mushroom Risotto because I was in the mood for a risotto and I didn't want the carbs that rice has (and I'm still not eating meat during the week). I also came up with a great idea on how to achieve the creaminess that Arborio rice brings to the table, without adding cream or butter!
Gluten Free and Vegetarian Quinoa Mushroom Risotto
Serves 4
- 1 cup red and white Quinoa uncooked
- 545 g variety of mushrooms
- 3 small shallots, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp roasted garlic purée (see note below)
- 3 tbsp navy bean paste (see note below)
- 100 mL water
- 1/4 tsp thyme
- 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- Parmesan cheese
- In a cast iron pan, toast the quinoa until they begin to pop, remove immediately. Cook as per directions on package.
- In cast iron dutch oven, give a good squirt of cooking spray and heat. Add the Shallots and cook gently, adding a bit of water if the oil dries up. Add the mushrooms and cook until soft.
- Mix the roasted garlic purée with the navy bean paste, adding enough water to make a thick sauce (like a roux). Pour it into the mushroom mixture and stir well.
- Add the cooked Quinoi, thyme and soy sauce to the mushrooms and stir until everything is coated with the garlic bean purée.
- Serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Roasted garlic purée
Take a head of garlic and roast with olive oil and sea salt in the oven until soft (I usually do it in a ramekin, not foil). Pop the cloves out into an immersion blender jar and purée until smooth. Add vegetable stock or water to make the consistency you need. I usually roast a bunch and freeze in special ice cub trays — pop out into a zip lock bag and return to freezer (don't do it in your regular ice cub tray, otherwise your gin and tonic will taste garlic-y!)
Navy bean purée
Cook dried navy beans until soft. Purée with an immersion blender until you have a very smooth paste adding only as much water as the blender needs to continue the purée. Store in a glass container in the fridge and use as needed. I have used this paste as a roux for many things.


text:
[Updated at 9:06 a.m. ET] President Barack Obama is presently mulling how many troops to bring home this summer and how many to bring home late next year, a source says.
He is expected to discuss preserving flexibility in force levels on the ground so commanders can adjust as conditions warrant, an administration official said.
The drawdown will involve both bringing troops home without replacing them as well as canceling some proposed deployments.
Bringing the troops home by late 2012 would give U.S. forces another two fighting seasons before coming home, sources say.
Nearly three-quarters of Americans polled this month said they support the United States pulling some or all of its forces from Afghanistan, and the figure has jumped 10 points since May, likely as a result of Osama bin Laden's death, pollsters said.
[Posted at 8:47 a.m. ET] President Barack Obama is expected to announce the approval of a plan that would result in the 30,000 U.S. "surge" forces being withdrawn completely from Afghanistan by the end of 2012, an administration official said.
An estimated 100,000 U.S. troops are serving in Afghanistan, and about 30,000 of them were part of the 2009 surge, aimed at snuffing rising violence in the country.
Obama had previously said those troops would begin coming home in July and indicated the number would be "significant."
The president has expressed confidence that the U.S. can meet a self-imposed deadline to bring U.S. troops back from Afghanistan without compromising Afghan security. Military commanders and government officials, however, have raised concerns about the readiness of Afghan security forces.
The White House said Monday that Obama is scheduled to give a speech on the withdrawal on Wednesday.Read CNN's full coverage of the Afghanistan troop withdrawal announcement
@john...Saddam was convicted on 143 counts of murder, not millions as you say and as wee see dying in during this occupation of Iraq. Read "The Teicher affidavit'. Sworn testimony from the highest ranking official to ever come-clean about who armed the madman Saddam even after he had used weapons on his own citizens. Even Israel got-in on arming that idiot. What a mess.
Go back in your little hole Philip. Saddam ordered the killing of hundreds of thousands to millions of Kurds, we found the bodies moron.
Sure, the chemical weapons were supplied by us to Saddam when he was our ally to be used against Iran, he used them against kurds too. That foto of our venerated defence Secy Rumsfeld bowing to him has perhaps now been destroyed. Propagandists and dissidents who wanted us to attack Saddam put the estimates from 50,000 to 100,000.
There was none & there never will legitimacy to this crime of epic proportions committed against Americans & humanity – the Iraq invasion. That distracted us from going after AL Qaeda in Afghanistan, destroyed a country and split it wide open to violence and extremism for all time, a breeding ground for terrorism. What it did was to strengthen AlQaeda helping them to widen their base and augmented their recruitment policy.
Thousands of American lives were lost, thousdands more were wounded & scarred for life. Trillion plus dollars of our national treasure were squandered. Tens of thousand of innocent civilians perished. Our credibility, prestige & clout in that region was seriously undermined and whole populations became hostile to US.
Iran , China & Russia were the beneficiaries reinforcing their influence in the region.
We'll continue reeling under the impact of that folly & what we undertook in Afghanistan for a long time to come.
We havn't learned the lessons yet. We are already into the fourth month of our Libyan 'campaign'. With 11000 missions flown, 1473 of them strike and ground troops now being contemplated , to me its war.
Operations in Yemen are still covert but that could change. Syria is next.
Israeli lobby here -AIPAC & Tel Aviv have started pushing us towards a military confrontation with Iran before the year is out. A horrific scenarion to consider.
So where is this nation headed? Go figure.
There is a strong possibility that the end of the world might happen during Purim (this March). This information comes only from the Bible. There is a link between Judgment Day and the Feast of Purim, in the Book of Esther.
The date for the end of the world cannot be based on someone's interpretation of an old stone monument. The source of Truth must be the Bible, God's Holy Word. For more information on The Link Between May 21, 2011 and the Feast of Purim in March 2012 please visit the site listed below.
The Holy Bible, King James Version