The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth. Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.
Today's horoscope says:
You're famous for integrity and responsibility (among other fine qualities).
You're also almost impossible to pry a secret out of -- especially if it belongs to someone else.
Though it's usually not so tough for you to keep things quiet, for some reason you're having difficulty this time.
If it's because you're not sure you'll be doing the right thing by keeping quiet, talk it over with someone you trust.
Some of our readers today have been in:
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Sheffield, England, United Kingdom
Lille, Nord-Pas-De-Calais, France
Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Gothenburg, Vastra Gotaland, Sweden
Zwolle, Overijssel, Netherlands
Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia
Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
Moscow, Moskva, Russia
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany
Ede, Gelderland, Netherlands
as well as Scotland, Brazil, and the United States in such cities as Henniker, Macomb, Mesa, Sugar Land, Lisle and more
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
April 3, 2009
This is a week of faithful celebration. On Monday and Tuesday nights, Jewish families and friends in the United States and around the world gathered for a Seder to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt and the triumph of hope and perseverance over injustice and oppression. On Sunday, my family will join other Christians all over the world in marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And while we worship in different ways, we also remember the shared spirit of humanity that inhabits us all – Jews and Christians, Muslims and Hindus, believers and nonbelievers alike.
Amid the storm of public debate, with our 24/7 media cycle, in a town like Washington that’s consumed with the day-to-day, it can sometimes be easy to lose sight of the eternal. So, on this Easter weekend, let us hold fast to those aspirations we hold in common as brothers and sisters, as members of the same family – the family of man.
All of us know how important work is – not just for the paycheck, but for the peace of mind that comes with knowing you can provide for your family. As Americans, and as human beings, we seek not only the security, but the sense of dignity, the sense of community, that work confers. That is why it was heartening news that last month, for the first time in more than two years, our economy created a substantial number of jobs, instead of losing them. We have begun to reverse the devastating slide, but we have a long way to go to repair the damage from this recession, and that will continue to be my focus every single day.
All of us value our health and the health of our loved ones. All of us have experienced an illness, a loss, a personal tragedy. All of us know that no matter what we’re doing or what else is going on in our lives, if the health of someone we love is endangered, nothing else matters. Our health is the rock upon which our lives are built, for better and for worse.
All of us value education. We know that in an economy as competitive as ours, an education is a prerequisite for success. But we also know that ultimately, education is about something more, something greater. It is about the ability that lies within each of us to rise above any barrier, no matter how high; to pursue any dream, no matter how big; to fulfill our God-given potential.
All of us are striving to make a way in this world; to build a purposeful and fulfilling life in the fleeting time we have here. A dignified life. A healthy life. A life, true to its potential. And a life that serves others. These are aspirations that stretch back through the ages – aspirations at the heart of Judaism, at the heart of Christianity, at the heart of all of the world’s great religions.
The rites of Passover, and the traditions of Easter, have been marked by people in every corner of the planet for thousands of years. They have been marked in times of peace, in times of upheaval, in times of war.
One such war-time service was held on the black sands of Iwo Jima more than sixty years ago. There, in the wake of some of the fiercest fighting of World War II, a chaplain rose to deliver an Easter sermon, consecrating the memory, he said “of American dead – Catholic, Protestant, Jew. Together,” he said, “they huddled in foxholes or crouched in the bloody sands…Together they practiced virtue, patriotism, love of country, love of you and of me.” The chaplain continued, “The heritage they have left us, the vision of a new world, [was] made possible by the common bond that united them…their only hope that this unity will endure.”
Their only hope that this unity will endure.
On this weekend, as Easter begins and Passover comes to a close, let us remain ever mindful of the unity of purpose, the common bond, the love of you and of me, for which they sacrificed all they had; and for which so many others have sacrificed so much. And let us make its pursuit – and fulfillment – our highest aspiration, as individuals and as a nation. Happy Easter and Happy Passover to all those celebrating, here in America, and around the world.
Contrary to 'popular' opinion that African-American men only fought in the War of Northern Aggression wearing Yankee Blue. More fought wearing Gray (officers) and Butternut Brown (enlisted). Note the date of the photo above ... from the outset the Confederate Army had entire units of African-Americans as well as intermixed units. African-American units in the Confederate Army had African-American officers and were front line units from the beginning whereas the Yankee Army's "Colored" units were only formed late in the war and initially only as 'engineering' and 'mess' (cookhouse) units. Do not get it wrong .... the Confederate Army had their engineering and mess units as well although those tended to be intermixed units. Then there were the 'special ops' units of the day ...
Part of Elton John stage at Mexico's Chichen Itza ruins partially collapses, injuring 3
Part of the stage being set up for a weekend concert by singer Elton John at Mexico's famed Chichen Itza ruins collapsed during construction, injuring three workers, authorities said Thursday.
Riding the tailwinds of positive economic news, President Barack Obama swept into Charlotte Friday to tout his jobs program and efforts to kindle growth.
Two different massage parlors in Brunswick County believed to have connections to prostitution and drugs were shut down Thursday night.Deputies and undercover officers raided the Sun Day Spa on Old Georgetown Road and Playmates off Highway 17. Authorities say both places were soliciting prostitution along with selling drugs inside the establishment.
Last June, deputies closed both of these places along with several others, but they were back open within weeks.
A total of five women were taken into custody on drug and prostitution charges.
"We will be seeking an injunction, working closely with the county attorney’s office to permanently shut these places down,” said Sheriff John Ingram. “And we hope to have that in place by next week.”
Authorities say they're also investigating whether two women arrested at the Sun Day Spa were involved in a human trafficking ring.
Thousands of fragments of a disintegrating comet, rather than a single large impact, may have killed off much of North America's animal life, a new study suggests
Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, a professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia University, has solved one of many problems on the way to successful bone implants: how to grow new bones in the anatomical shape of the original.
Dr. Vunjak-Novakovic and her research team have created and nourished two small bones from scratch in their laboratory. The new bones, part of a joint at the back of the jaw, were created with human stem cells. The shape is based on digital images of undamaged bones.
Tissue-engineered bones have many implications, according to a leading figure in the field, Dr. Charles A. Vacanti, director of the laboratories for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He has no connection to the Columbia work. “If your imaging equipment has sufficient high resolution, you can construct virtually any intricate shape you want — for example, the middle ear bone, creating an exact duplicate,” he said. “It’s a splendid example of tissue engineering at its best.”
This is finally movement in the right direction on jobs:
Employers added 162,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, leaving the unemployment rate steady at 9.7 percent for the third straight month. The payrolls increase was the largest since March 2007, and also reflected temporary hiring for the census.
Payroll figures for January were revised to show a 14,000 gain, while February was adjusted to show only a loss of 14,000.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected non-farm payrolls to rise 190,000 last month and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 9.7 percent. The median projection from the 20 economists who have forecast payrolls most accurately over the past year predicted 200,000 jobs were created in March.
You've likely heard the big news today that 162,000 new US jobs were added in March, which marks the biggest gain in employment in 3 years. Some 40,000 of those were attributed to the Census, but the rest was true private sector growth. Since the boilerplate (but untrue) talking points opponents of energy reform use was that it would kill jobs and burden the fragile economy, and now we're finally seeing distinct job growth again, is there a better chance that the beleaguered clean energy and jobs bill will become law?
Nineopus. Novopus. Freak of nature.
Whatever you want to call it, the nine-legged octopus probably had a leg up on all the other creatures in the Gulf of Mexico - until it was caught and found its way to Hellas Bakery and Restaurant in Florida.
Q: Will the IRS hire 16,500 new agents to enforce the health care law?
A: No. The law requires the IRS mostly to hand out tax credits, not collect penalties. The claim of 16,500 new agents stems from a partisan analysis based on guesswork and false assumptions, and compounded by outright misrepresentation.
A Florida doctor has decided he doesn't want to treat Democrats, at least those who voted for Barack Obama. Florida urologist Jack Cassell posted a sign on his office door telling those voters to go away.
He should not be allowed to practice and should surrender his license forthwith!
More Wingnuts!
Guardians of the free Republics: Could threats spark violence?
More than 30 US governors have received subtly threatening letters from a group called Guardians of the free Republics.
Subtle threats against dozens of US governors by a Texas-based group called Guardians of the free Republics could be enough to spark violence in a tense and polarized country, the FBI says. This week's threats against at least 30 governors are another example of antigovernment sentiments making waves in the United States in recent months.
Bachmann says Teabaggers, who have repeatedly used the n-word about blacks, are not racist
There's video of a Teabagger spitting on a black congressman, and of a Teabagger leader holding a sign with the word n-word on it. Clearly, the Teabagger's racism and violent emotions are becoming a liability to the the repugicans if even crazy Bachmann is now out there defending them.
Remind the number one rule for repugicans, if they deny it, it's true.
It's a rare thing to see a whale birth in the wild, and even rarer to see that of an endangered species. But just last week, researchers from the University of North Carolina Wilmington witnessed a North Atlantic right whale - one of the rarest whales on earth - give birth to a calf. Unfortunately, it was born in a dangerous area - right next to military sonar testing, which is known to kill whales. Check out photos of the bouncing newborn after the jump.
Two zoo otters who were always together have died of heart attacks on the same night.
Staff at Nelson's Natureland zoo, New Zealand, were reeling from the shock of their deaths last week, operations manager Gail Sutton said. However, they were also relieved that they had gone together.
Daz, 19, and Chip, 16, were elderly, as an otter's average lifespan was 13 to 15 years, she said. They had been unwell for two weeks and had spent a week in a quarantine area.
After completing treatment, they were due to return to their enclosure the next day but died that night. Autopsy results indicated that they suffered heart attacks, she said. Pathology reports were expected to determine what caused the attacks.
"It seems the stress of one having a heart attack was enough to trigger the other heart attack," Ms Sutton said. "They were always so close and never apart. They always cuddled together. Both went together, and that's a blessing for them."
The otters, which were popular with Natureland visitors, lived there for 15 years and helped to raise awareness about the threats facing otters in the wild.
Council workmen have been left red-faced after mixing up their letters on a 'Keep Clear' road marking by spelling it 'Keer Cleap'.
Embarrassed officials from Hertfordshire Highways were forced to switch the 'P'and 'R' around after residents on Garden Walk in Royston spotted the blunder.
Plumber Paul Brett, 39, was the first to notice the mistake - despite the fact he is dyslexic and struggles with spelling.
He said: 'It's quite amusing because I suffer from dyslexia and spotted it before my wife Denise did.'
Mother-of-two Denise, 37, an administrator, said the 2ft high and 5ft wide road markings directly outside their house had kept the whole family entertained. She said: 'They must have been quite embarrassed by the whole thing.
'My husband, who is not the greatest speller, noticed the mistake yesterday and we are still chuckling about it.'
