Cyril's Gleans

gleans at 10:35 AM MT, 10/30

 

Invading bugs ravage our forests Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA Hemlock wooly adelgids, native to Asia, threaten to wipe out Georgia’s mountain hemlocks. Other trees face similar perils. Some reports indicate that the ...   Audio slideshow British Museum's striking exhibition on ancient Babylon     The Tech Lab What multicore computing will soon be doing for you     Sabretooth tigers were party animals, scientists say       Justin Scroggie's top 10 secret signs There's little so pleasing as a secret message from the author for the quick-witted to dig out     Inside the mind of a colossus Review: The Snowball - Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder As we enter a global recession, the life of Warren Buffett is more salutary than ever, writes Ruth Sunderland More business and finance     Literary witches quiz

 

gleans at 10:05 AM MT, 10/30

 

A new ranking of "laugh out loud" fiction feature no female names. How did that happen?  Women authors aren't funny? Don't make me laugh - U.K. Guardian Blog

 

From Associated Press October 30, 2008 8:37 AM EDT WASHINGTON - The government says the economy shrank in the third quarter as consumers cut back on their spending by the biggest amount in 28 years. It was the strongest signal yet the country has hurtled into recession.  Full Story

 

U.S. Economy Contracts as Consumers Cut Back Sharply By DAVID LEONHARDT The economy shrank at an annual rate of 0.3 percent in the third quarter, as personal consumption spending fell for the first time in 17 years.

 

Signs Are Bad, and Could Get Worse By FLOYD NORRIS This recession is already deeper than the 2001 downturn. And there are clear signs it is, or soon will be, worse than the 1990-91 recession as well.

 

Devil's night: The history of pre-halloween pranks

 

 

Turning your clock back Sunday may help your heart

 

 

 

 

gleans at 2:10 AM MT, 10/30

 

http://www.iqinnovations.org/educational-technology/2008/10/20-education-technology-trends-to-watch.html

 

In New Mexico, Balm in a Volcanic Landscape Jemez Springs is attracting artists, drifters and refugees from big-city living.

 

R. R. Furman, 93, Dies; Led Bomb-Project Spying By DENNIS HEVESI  As chief of foreign intelligence for the American atomic bomb project, Major Furman coordinated and often joined harrowing espionage missions.

 

France. Sex. Problem? By ELAINE SCIOLINO  France is struggling with boundaries: the public portrayal of sex and sexuality, the limits of privacy for its public figures.

 

Hong Kong finds melamine in yet more China eggs
Reuters India, India - HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong has detected melamine in yet another batch of chicken eggs from mainland China, the third such find in the city in under a ...

 

Pakistan's new menace: Wild boars
Pakistan, struggling with debt and insurgency, faces a new problem - wild boars, writes the BBC's Aijaz Maher.

 

 

gleans at 10:30 AM MT, 10/29

 

Drinkers on longest ever pub crawl reach 14,000th pub

Blair earns £12m since leaving Downing Street

£100,000 wedding of 16-year-old who lives in caravan

Snow covers parts of England as winter weather sets in

London suffered its first October snowfall in 74 years as a winter chill set in across England.

 

 

Sign language

This week's amusing and absurd travel pictures, sent in by readers.

 

 

US presidents ranked - the big let-downs

 

 

World faces natural resources crisis

Humans use 30% more resources than earth can replenish each year, international study warns 56 comments

• FAQ: What are the planet's limits?
• Audio: WWF on the 'ecological credit crunch'

 

UK faces peak oil crisis 'in five years'

Risk to UK from falling oil production greater than threat posed by terrorism, industry taskforce finds

 

 

Revolution rocket

Venezuela gears up for launch of its first satellite

 

 

MS offers peek through Windows 7 Software developers are given a demo of Microsoft's next version of Windows. Microsoft to battle in the clouds Microsoft's Vista sales power up A closer look at Windows 7

 

 

Cloudy future

Who takes care of data when the cloud takes over?

 

 

Yellowstone woe

Amphibians in world's oldest park disappear

 

 

 

 

gleans at 9:30 AM MT, 10/29

 

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:  What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? -Ursula K. Le Guin, author (b. 1929)

 

Viacom hopes Google's book settlement teaches it a lesson The two companies continue to blast away at each other in the press, with Viacom pointing to Google's settlement with book publishers and Google taking aim at Viacom's copyright tactics.  Tue, Oct 28 18:21:00 PDT 2008 | Read full story 

 

Prospect of peace talks rises in Afghanistan

By Laura King

As would-be mediators emerge, the prospect of negotiations between Western and Afghan officials and the Taliban is not so readily dismissed.

 

 

Emirates Airline lands in L.A. with a splash

By Peter Pae

The Dubai carrier kicks off nonstop service to the Middle East with a lavish party befitting its opulent accommodations.

 

 

 

Canada.com Eggs recalled, exports halted as China's food crisis worsens AFP - BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese retailers pulled eggs off shelves Wednesday and a supplier was ordered to stop exports, amid fears the toxic threat of the chemical melamine was far more widespread than first reported. BC-China-Tainted Eggs guardian.co.uk China: More eggs found containing melamine CNN International Reuters - The Associated Press - Press Trust of India - Sofia News Agency all 1,127 news articles »

 

 

Javno.hr

5 Suicide Bomb Attacks Hit Somalia
New York Times - By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN NAIROBI, Kenya - Suicide attacks rocked government and United Nations offices in two regions of northern Somalia on Wednesday, killing or wounding dozens of people and shattering a sense of relative calm there, according to ...
Attacks Kill at Least 22 in Somalia Wall Street Journal
Suicide bombers strike in northern Somalia guardian.co.uk
The Associated Press - Bloomberg - AFP - Xinhua
all 527 news articles »

 

 

Voice of America

SYRIA: Did Damascus green-light US attack?
Los Angeles Times - Everyone's still scratching their heads about Sunday's dramatic US attack on a Syrian village five miles from the Iraqi border.
US Embassy in Syria says it could close to public The Associated Press
Iraq to share results of US raid probe with Syria Reuters
International Herald Tribune - USA Today - Washington Times - Wall Street Journal
all 3,972 news articles »

 

 

Do tales of witchcraft and wizardry, Harry Potter novels, for instance, have a negative effect on children? Richard Dawkins wants to know... more»

 

 

There's a very real danger from being mentally sucked out of your world while operating thousands of pounds of metal at high speed ... [more]

 

 

A dramatic increase in the need for genital reconstruction in boy babies has surgeons concerned ... [more]

 

 

Psychologists have used hypnosis to give people the ability to see numbers as colors ... [more]

 

 

Many genes related to disease are probably as old as the very first living cell, while others can be traced back to important moments in evolution ... [more]

 

 

Californian researchers are using a borrowed spy satellite to spot the distinctive burrow entrances of the endangered giant kangaroo rat ... [more]

 

 

The Media Equation

Mourning Old Media’s Decline

By DAVID CARR

The print media do not have an audience problem, but a consumer problem. The Christian Science Monitor will end its daily print paper and publish a magazine, above.

• Paper to End Daily Print Edition | Layoffs at Time Inc. | Gannett
• Post a Comment | Read (132)

 

 

LinkedIn Reels in Outside Programs for Web Site

 

 

Lively Reds, a Bargain for Hard Times

By ERIC ASIMOV

The craving for cheap wines may be surging, but merely cheap is no bargain. That’s where montepulciano d’Abruzzo comes in.

 

 

Dry-Ice Martini and Electric Cake

By JULIA MOSKIN

Some professional scientists are drawing on laboratory experience and academic training to make cooking into a science project.

 

 

Brooklyn Returns to a Heady Time

By PAUL ADAMS

A number of breweries in Brooklyn are re-establishing the association between the borough and beer.

 

 

Sushi as an Everyday Luxury

By FRANK BRUNI

Kanoyama, a favorite of sushi savants for a while now, and Sushi Azabu, which opened this year, present what might well qualify as sushi bargains.

• Audio Slide Show

 

 

 

gleans at 11:05 PM MT, 10/28

 

WordWeb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Words from pictures - CTRL + right-clicking on a word within an image (for example, the 'Free' in the Wikipedia logo) will ask WordWeb to guess the word. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordWeb - 26k - Cached - Similar pages

 

Cranberry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cranberry Institute: About Cranberries; ^ Superfruits Take Center Stage :: News .... Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cranberry - 81k - Cached - Similar pages

 

Haunted House Association Established to assist and advance the haunted house industry through communication, education, and information.
www.hauntedhouseassociation.org/ - 33k - Cached - Similar pages

 

Dow ends up almost 900, but no one is exhaling

Wall Street's best day in two weeks - and one of its best ever - brought little real reason to celebrate. Even the manic, final-hour of buying that sent the Dow Jones industrials soaring almost 900 points Tuesday was overshadowed by the reality that it could turn on investors in an instant.

 

 

Robert Wright for The New York Times

Brooklyn Returns to a Heady Time By PAUL ADAMS A number of breweries in Brooklyn are re-establishing the association between the borough and beer. Above, Shane C. Welch of Sixpoint Craft Ales.

 

Even as Dow Soars 11%, Skeptics Lurk

 

 

 

gleans at 6:45 PM MT, 10/28

 

WASHINGTON - Someone in your house have the sniffles? Watch out for the refrigerator door handle. The TV remote, too. A new study finds that cold sufferers often leave their germs there, where they can live for two days or longer.  Full Story

 

Listen Up: Simon Armitage, Jane Hirshfield & Maxine Kumin Tune in and listen to newly recorded readings by Simon Armitage and Jane Hirshfield, as well as a 1979 recording of Maxine Kumin from the Academy's Audio Archive.  On the web at: www.poets.org/audio

 

MTV.com

What's that smell? The Jonas Brothers in 'Walter the Farting Dog'
Los Angeles Times - Variety is reporting that the Jonas Brothers -- Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas, and the "Bonus Jonas" Frankie, 8 -- will star in -– are you ready?
Casting Couch: Jonas Bros Ready for Farting E! Online
Jonas Brothers To Star In 'Walter The Farting Dog' MTV.com
Zap2it.com - Pop Machine - Chicago Tribune Blog - The Star-Ledger - NJ.com - Variety
all 103 news articles »

 

Glue binds the social and semantic Web

AdaptiveBlue launches a tool that connects things, such as movies, books, and artists, to people and people to people and their things.  Read full story

 

http://www.iqinnovations.org/educational-technology/ <== today's not so mysterious URL

 

Intelligence Agencies Face Austerity

 

Buying spree sees US stocks soar The three major share indexes in New York close the day up 10%, ahead of a Fed decision on interest rates. Brown and Sarkozy in action call Credit crisis: World in turmoil Currencies: winners and losers

 

Iraq military 'will collapse' if US forces withdraw Top US general warns Iraq that its military would be crippled without a new security deal authorising US presence in the country.

• Navy frigates defend world oil prices

 

The men who keep Obama alive

 

'Deep Throat' porn director dies Gerard Damiano, director of the 1970s hugely controversial and pioneering porn film Deep Throat, has died in Florida at the age of 80.

• Moss Christmas collection

• Ralph Fiennes: Film-making 'high risk'
  

 

 

gleans + 2xaddenda at 12:20 PM MT, 10/28

 

Nuclear-powered planes 'to transport millions'
Call for research to help aviation industry convert from fossil fuels to atomic energy
--London Times

Gun sales go boom!
Purchases of firearms, ammo rise 8 to 10 percent this year
--Washington Post

Major newspapers continue circulation plunge New York Times down more than 3%, Los Angeles Times plummets 5% --Advertising Age

See the Top 25 papers sink List of major newspapers and how much circulation declining --Editor & Publisher

L.A. Times to layoff 75 staffers Tribune Co. reduced overall staff by 250 last summer, including 150 from newsroom --Associated Press

Newspaper stocks spiral ever lower From peaks in recent years, McClatchy down 97%, Gannett off 90% --Advertising Age

addenda #1

Radio 4 - In Business And then John Murphy moved on to gin. Plymouth Gin was the brand favoured by the Royal Navy for its tipple Pink Gin.  www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/inbusiness/inbusiness_20080925.shtml

Welcome To Plymouth, The World's Smoothest Gin The original Plymouth Gin - England, the history, the culture, the links, the pilgrims, distillery.
www.plymouthgin.com/ - 4k - Cached - Similar pages

Plymouth Gin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Plymouth Gin is a style of gin that by law can only be produced in Plymouth, England, it being a Protected Geographical Indication within the European Union ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_gin - 22k - Cached - Similar pages

Gin Notes: Plymouth Gin - Slashfood Nov 5, 2006 ... Plymouth Gin made in Plymouth, England is bottled at 82 proof/41.2% abv and is distilled in the Black Friars Distillery, the oldest working ...
www.slashfood.com/2006/11/05/gin-notes-plymouth-gin/ - 70k - Cached - Similar pages

 

addenda #2 <== Cyril's ten desert island books

The World of Mr Mulliner: The Mulliner Omnibus by P.G. Wodehouse

Essays (Everyman's Library Classics & Contemporary Classics) by George Orwell

The Top 500 Poems by William Harmon

The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics) by John Milton and John Leonard

Prelude: 1799, 1805, 1850 (Norton Critical Edition) by William Wordsworth, Jonathan Wordsworth, M. H. Abrams, and Stephen Charles Gill

Days of H.L. Mencken by H. L. Mencken

Complete Memoirs of George Sherston by Siegfried Sassoon

Far Away and Long Ago: A Childhood in Argentina by W.H. Hudson

Idle Days in Patagonia (Dodo Press) by W. H. Hudson

The Purple Land by H. W. Hudson

 

 

gleans + 2xaddenda at 10:00 AM MT, 10/28

 

Boston Globe

US consumer confidence plunges to record low
MarketWatch - By Ruth Mantell, MarketWatch WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Wounded by the financial crisis, US consumer confidence plunged in October, reaching an all-time low in the series' 41-year existence, the Conference Board reported Tuesday.
Confidence index hits lowest since monthly records began Houston Chronicle
Key consumer measure at all-time low CNNMoney.com
Reuters - The Associated Press - Kansas City Star - Purchasing.com
all 567 news articles »

CBS News   Stocks carve out rebound after sharp selloff The Associated Press - NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street shook off more signs of global economic troubles Tuesday and carved out a sizable gain as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's next move on interest rates. Video: Stocks Open Lower As Overseas Markets Slide AssociatedPress Stocks up at midday Capital News 9 KWTX - guardian.co.uk - Bay News 9 - Smartmoney.com all 1,223 news articles » AFP   Google Settles Scanning Suits, Clears Way for Online Publishing Bloomberg - By Susan Decker and Erik Larson Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc. will pay $125 million to settle copyright lawsuits filed by publishers and authors over its book-scanning project, a ``historic'' settlement that the company said clears the way for ... Google Settles Book Search Suits Wall Street Journal Authors, Publishers, and Google Reach Landmark Settlement MarketWatch guardian.co.uk - BBC News - CNBC - The Associated Press all 325 news articles »  GOOG   PC World Google offers Gmail users a window into Calendar and Docs Computerworld - By Heather Havenstein For example, Gmail users can use one of the gadgets to see their Calendar agenda and get alerted when a meeting is scheduled, Google said. Gmail Gets Integrated Calendar and Docs Washington Post Gmail Calendar, Documents And Gadgets, Oh My CRN TG Daily - ZDNet - VNUNet.com - Appscout all 21 news articles »

 

Rimbaud, Hefner, Lennon, Eminem: how fascinating to watch these men, as they age, grow from being rebels to being rather lovable chaps... more»

What will happen to religious belief in the coming age of Higher Tech? ... [more]

Can evo-devo theories tell us why Sears' mail order catalogues were so popular in the early twentieth century? ... [more]

 

 

Penny Lane nurse identified

Nurse referred to in The Beatles' Penny Lane identified after 40 years

 

 

Australian parliament may drop Lord's Prayer

The speaker of Australia's parliament has called for a public debate on whether the Lord's Prayer should be dumped from the start of each parliamentary session and replaced by an acknowledgement of the country's Aboriginal ancestors.

 

 

Vetran flight

 

A vetran takes to the skies 50 years after he piloted a Lancaster Bomber.

 

 

Cambridge parking sign error

 

A sign at Cambridge University - home to many of Britain's more prestigious brains over the centuries - has prompted mirth over a simple misspelling.

 

 

 

US Presidential Limos

History of the power parade, from

 

 

 

 

addenda #1 <== thanks to RuralBufferBob

 

Subject: Not your typical Reader's comment (on Brooks's Op-Ed today) ...Glad I took control theory in Grad School!

Date: Oct 28, 2008 8:55 AM

---

18.

October 28, 2008 7:07 am

 

I suggest that psychologists learn some basic Control Theory that every system engineer must learn as part of their basic education. The market system, especially the supply and demand law, is essentially a negative feedback loop. The stability of such systems is conditional and in the language of mathematics, the system is stable as long as the poles of the Laplace transform stay on the left half of the Complex plane. When any move to the right, the negative feed backs become positive feed backs and the system becomes unstable.

From this perspective, regulations are essential.

— Luke, Taiwan

 

addenda #2 <== 23 of Cyril's favorite movies in alphabetical order

Beau Geste (1939)

Bonnie Scotland (1935)

Casablanca (1942)

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Gunga Din (1939)

No Time for Sergeants (1958)

On the Beach (1959)

Paths of Glory (1957)

Sahara (1943)

Secondhand Lions (2003)

Sergeant York (1941)

Star Wars (1977)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

The Fighting 69^th (1940)

The Four Feathers (1939)

The Great Impersonation (1935)

The Hunt for Red October (1990)

The Last Starfighter (1984)

The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)

The Sky’s the Limit (1943)

The Thin Red Line (1998)

To Hell and Back (1955)

War Games (1983)

 

 

gleans + 1xnerdnews + 1xaddenda at 8:10 AM MT, 10/28

 

Bloomberg.com: Exclusive Oct 27, 2008 ... Evil Wall Street Exports Boomed With `Fools' Born to Buy Debt. By Mark Pittman. More Photos/Details. Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Tom Bosh lowered ...
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a0jln3.CSS6c&refer=news - 4 hours ago - Similar pages

 

The Dream Team The next American president will need his country’s brightest minds—not his party’s usual suspects. So, we asked 10 foreign-policy experts to name the team that can best guide No. 44 through the turbulent years ahead

 

Sex, drugs, money

Why young Somali men are lured by pirate lifestyle

 

 

Comedies get no respect from Oscars

By Patrick Goldstein

Comedies get little respect from the movie academy, and that's a serious problem.

 

 

Copper ruins in Jordan bolster biblical record of King Solomon

By Thomas H. Maugh II

New carbon dating shows the site is older than previously believed. Critics say there's still no evidence of an empire.

 

 

 

nerd news

Video of the day

Zeppelins return to the American skies Airships aren't just for the 20th century anymore. Airship Ventures wants to bring zeppelins to America's skies for the first time in 70 years.

Podcast

Microsoft looks to the Azure cloud

A look at Azure, which represents a major change in the way software is developed for Microsoft's Windows operating system.  Read full story

 

Man's arm sucked down train toilet A man travelling on a French high speed train is rescued by firemen after having his arm sucked down the on-board toilet.

 

Microsoft to battle in the clouds Microsoft has unveiled Azure, its cloud computing venture in which data storage and computing will happen on the web. Harnessing the power of 'clouds' HP, Intel, Yahoo in cloud tie-up 'Windows for the cloud' architect

 

Virtual help

How a 3D computer world can be used to train paramedics

 

 

VIDEO AND AUDIO NEWS

Microsoft's giant virtual storage centre Electric car pilot for UK roads

addenda

Halloween Treats: Spooky Verse and Poets' Graves

Dim the lights on All Hallows Eve and intone haunting poems filled with goblins, and witches, and darkened skies. Or follow Dante, Virgil, and Rimbaud on a journey into the Underworld. Still not scared? Uncover the authors entombed in your area with a guide to poets in the graveyard, all online, at Poets.org.

On the web at: www.poets.org/halloween