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Author: spunkycarol

By Posted on Posted in Stuff

there are no words to say…the subject line said it all.

via Slashdot by CmdrTaco on Jul 09, 2007

Gary writes “NASA has paid $19 million for a Russian-built international space station toilet system. The toilet system, similar to the one already in use in the station’s Zvezda Service Mdule, is scheduled to arrive at the space station in 2008 and will offer more privacy for a crew expected to double from three to six by 2009. The space station toilet physically resembles those used on Earth, except it has leg restraints and thigh bars to keep astronauts and cosmonauts from floating away. NASA says purchasing the multi million dollar toilet is a bargain compared to developing one from scratch.”Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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By Posted on Posted in Stuff

via Slashdot by Zonk on Jul 02, 2007

Bert de Jong writes “The Daily Mail reports that thousands of rubber ducks who have traveled the seas of the world since 1992 are about to end their journey. After escaping out of a container fallen off a Chinese freight ship in a storm, scientists have been followed them on their fifteen year trek. This has turned out to be an invaluable source of information for studying ocean currents. Now it seems inevitable though that they will finally land on the shores of South-West England. ‘[Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer] correctly predicted what many thought was impossible – that thousands of them would end up washed into the Arctic ice near Alaska, and then move at a mile a day, frozen in the pack ice, around their very own North-West Passage to the Atlantic. It proved true years later and in 2003, the first Friendly Floatees were found, frozen and then thawed out, on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. and Canada. So precious to science are they that the US firm that made them is offering a £50 bounty for finding one.'”Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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By Posted on Posted in Climate Change

Link to NYTimes article

“Just in the last few months, new studies have shown that the north polar ice cap — which helps the planet cool itself — is melting nearly three times faster than the most pessimistic computer models predicted. Unless we take action, summer ice could be completely gone in as little as 35 years. Similarly, at the other end of the planet, near the South Pole, scientists have found new evidence of snow melting in West Antarctica across an area as large as California….But there’s something even more precious to be gained if we do the right thing. The climate crisis offers us the chance to experience what few generations in history have had the privilege of experiencing: a generational mission; a compelling moral purpose; a shared cause; and the thrill of being forced by circumstances to put aside the pettiness and conflict of politics and to embrace a genuine moral and spiritual challenge.”

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By Posted on Posted in Animals, Climate Change

Yahoo News Article

The Interior Department will announce on Thursday it is removing the majestic bird from the protection of the Endangered Species Act, capping a four-decade struggle for recovery.

Government biologists have counted nearly 10,000 mating pairs of bald eagles, including at least one pair in each of 48 contiguous states, giving assurance that the bird’s survival is no longer in jeopardy.

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By Posted on Posted in Animals

http://www.sonoma-marinfair.org/uglydogcontest.shtml

(Petaluma, CA – June 22, 2007) A large crowd of fans and press anxiously assembled around the Kiwanis Park Stage at the Sonoma-Marin Fair well before 6:30 pm Friday night in anticipation of a favorite annual event, The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest. In the end, that same crowd went wild when their clear favorite, Elwood, took not one but three prizes—first place in the Mutt Class, Ugly Dog of 2007, and finally the coveted position of World’s Ugliest Dog in this 19th annual event. To claim the big title, Elwood had to out-ugly two former champions, Archie
(2006 winner) and Rascal (2002 winner).

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By Posted on Posted in Stuff

Elderly Pa. Women Pose for Risque Photos

http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=456&sid=1164642

2 Pittsburgh-area women recently posed at Monongahela historical sites, baring it all _ or almost all _ to create a charity-driven calendar. The catch?

The nearly nude ladies are all in their 70s and 80s, driven to adventure by a desire to raise money for a historical society in Monongahela, a small community 17 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

Overcoming fears the priest would walk by during a photo shoot or embarrassing their children and grandchildren, the women _ all well-known members of the tight-knit community _ are now eagerly awaiting the calendar’s debut next month. The money it generates will go to the Monongahela Area Historical Society.

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By Posted on Posted in Climate Change

Al Gore is appearing on a few shows this week, notably Larry King Live and David Letterman. Here’s a nostalgic tv screen capture that I snapped in 1993 when Vice President Gore appeared on David Letterman and discussed the need for federal acquisition reform.

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