JungleLogic
See No Evil - the true story of a ground soldier in the cia's was on terrorism, robert baer:
Abu Nidal Organization
AK-47
Amal
'Asal, Munir Shafiq
ASALA
'Ayn Al-Dibah
Committee of 77
Fatah
Force 17
Al-Gama 'at Al-Islamiyah
Green Line
Hamas
Hizballah
IJO
UAZ
PLO
PETN
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova 2005
Emona
For the village of the same name in Bulgaria, see Emona (Burgas).
Emona or Aemona was a Roman city in the region of modern Ljubljana in Slovenia. It became important at the end of first century B.C.E. at the crossroads of important arteries of communication from Pannonia to Italy. The city is mentioned in the legend of the Argonauts.
Pisces! About Your Sign...
Pisces,
Pisceans possess a gentle, patient, malleable nature. They have many generous
qualities and are friendly, good natured, kind and compassionate, sensitive
to the feelings of those around them, and respond with the utmost sympathy
and tact to any suffering they encounter. They are deservedly popular with
all kinds of people, partly because their easygoing, affectionate, submissive
natures offer no threat or challenge to stronger and more exuberant characters.
They accept the people around them and the circumstances in which they
find themselves rather than trying to adapt them to suit themselves, and
they patiently wait for problems to sort themselves out rather than take
the initiative in solving them. They are more readily concerned with the
problems of others than with their own.
Their natures tend to be too otherworldly for the practical purposes of living in this world as it is. They sometimes exist emotionally rather than rationally, instinctively more than intellectually (depending on how they are aspected). They long to be recognized as greatly creative. They also dislike disciple and confinement. The nine-to-five life is not for them. Any rebellion they make against convention is personal, however, as they often times do not have the energy or motivation to battle against the Establishment.
Pisceans tend to withdraw into a dream world where their qualities can bring mental satisfaction and sometimes, fame and financial reward for they are extremely gifted artistically. They are also versatile and intuitive, have quick understanding, observe and listen well, and are receptive to new ideas and atmospheres. All these factors can combine to produce remarkable creativity in literature, music and art. They may count among their gifts mediumistic qualities which can give them a feeling that their best work comes from outside themselves, "Whispered beyond the misted curtains, screening this world from that." Even when they cannot express themselves creatively they have a greater than average instinct for, and love of, beauty in art and nature, a catlike appreciation of luxury and pleasure, and a yearning for new sensations and travel to remote, exotic places.
They are never egotistical in their personal relationships and give more than they ask from their friends. They are sexually delicate, in the extreme almost asexual, and most Pisceans would want a relationship in which the partner's mind and spirit rather than the body resonated with their own. Unfortunately they can be easily misled by a lover who courts them delicately and in marriage makes them unhappy by a coarser sexuality than they expected. They are nevertheless intensely loyal and home-loving and will remain faithful.
PBS interviews on Saudi Arabia
Robert Baer, Former CIA Case Officer and Author of "Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude."
A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW
BUZZFLASH: Let me begin by asking you, just to establish your background, you wrote a book called See No Evil, in which you talked about your career with the CIA. Can you explain a little bit more about what your background and areas of responsibility were with the CIA?
ROBERT BAER: I spent 21 years in the CIA as what’s called a case officer. That means that I went overseas and served overseas almost all the years I spent with the CIA, meeting with what we call agents. Those are foreigners who spy for the CIA. And you write up their reports and send them back to Washington. So I was a field officer, in short.
BUZZFLASH: In what area? You did serve in Iraq, if I recall, in reading your book.
BAER: I served in Iraq for awhile. A couple times I was there on a temporary basis. I was mostly in the Middle East – Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Bosnia as well as a couple of other countries.
BUZZFLASH: So you have extensive experience with the Middle East.
BAER: Yes.
BUZZFLASH: As a gatherer of what is called "human intelligence."
BAER: Yes.
BUZZFLASH: Now in reading through the book we’re going to discuss, Sleeping With the Devil, I noticed there are many thick black bars through it that I assumed were censored by the CIA. Is that correct?
BAER: Yes. They get the manuscript in advance of publishing.
BUZZFLASH: So the CIA basically vets it and approves it, minus whatever they feel is necessary to black out or censor.
BAER: Yes, they don’t mess with the content. They just say: Listen, this is our stuff. You can’t publish it.
BUZZFLASH: The book’s full title is Sleeping With the Devil – How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude, and you cover several administrations. The claims you make here seem to apply, for the most part, whether they’re Democrat or Republican. And you, of course, focus on Saudi Arabia. What compelled you to write the book?
BAER: I’d always been fascinated by Saudi Arabia. And I’d always noticed that on general intelligence reports that are sent around in the field, and in Washington, there’s virtually nothing said about Saudi Arabia. Every Arab that I talked to – and I know a lot of them – kept on talking about the disputes in the royal family, huge contracts, the Wahhabi's funding Lebanese politics. It became clear to me, even though I wasn’t seeing much in the CIA traffic, or State Department, or anywhere else, that this was a key country.
Journey To The Center Of The Earth
The deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu is docked at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries'
shipyard in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo 14 December 2005, ending its first training
mission at sea since being built in July at a cost of 500 million dollars.
An ambitious Japanese-led project to dig deeper into the Earth's surface
than ever before will be a breakthrough in detecting earthquakes including
Tokyo's dreaded "Big One," officials said 15 December. AFP Photo/Jiji
Press.
by Shingo Ito
Yokohama, Japan (AFP) Dec 15, 2005
An ambitious Japanese-led project to dig deeper into the Earth's surface
than ever before will be a breakthrough in detecting earthquakes including
Tokyo's dreaded "Big One," officials said Thursday.
The deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu made a port call Thursday in Yokohama after ending its first training mission at sea since being built in July at a cost of 500 million dollars.
The 57,500-ton Chikyu, which means the Earth in Japanese, is scheduled to embark in September 2007 on a voyage to collect the first samples of the Earth's mantle in human history.
The project, led by Japan and the United States with the participation of China and the European Union, seeks clues on primitive organisms that were the forerunners of life and on the tectonic plates that shake the planet's foundations.
"This is like an Apollo project under the Earth," staff scientist Kan Aoike said, referring to the landmark US lunar missions.
"The idea of the project came out half a century ago but failed halfway while the real Apollo project was carried out successfully," Aoike told AFP as he sorted out samples taken in its first training voyage.
"So this is a second and serious attempt to complete another key exploration for mankind," he said. "We are so excited to witness the mantle for the first time."
The Earth is made up of a crust, a mantle, an outer core and an inner core.
The satellite-equipped vessel, which still smells fresh with paint, is equipped with a 121-meter (400-foot) drill tower that can dig 7,000 meters (23,000 feet) below the seabed, nearly three times as deep as its predecessors.
"All these (samples) give us different ideas for how the climate changed over time, the position of the continents, what kind of land plants were living on the Earth, what's the potential for oil," said Daniel Curewitz, a US scientist working on the project.
But Asahiko Taira, director-general of the project, said: "For Japan the most important thing is to drill through areas where plates are overlapping so that we can monitor an earthquake directly.
"I presume this will help predict an earthquake, which will be a breakthrough in seismology," he said. "Even if we cannot predict it, we can get data in advance of an initial crack from an earthquake."
Japan experiences 20 percent of the world's major earthquakes.
As a first drilling spot, the operator chose the seabed some 600 kilometers (370 miles) southwest of Tokyo, where many experts say an earthquake measuring eight on the Richter scale will occur sometime in the near future.
In 1944 and 1946, more than 2,000 people in total were killed in two big earthquakes and tsunami in the seabed area known as the Nankai Trough, a boundary where two plates slide past each other.
Taira said the seabed off Sumatra island in Indonesia, the scene of the massive earthquake a year ago that triggered the Indian Ocean tsunami, is also a potential drilling spot in the future.
Oceanic drilling is preferred over land drilling because the crust at the seabed is thinner and allows for deeper digs into the crust and mantle, Taira said.
Chikyu uses technology that exists for oil drilling, but is specially equipped to prevent damage from sudden bursts if it accidentally strikes oil or gas reserves.
Some 150 crew are scheduled to make the first official voyage in 2007. The ship and its drill pipes are rigged to stay stable by adjusting to the rolling motions from the drilling and waves.
Source: Agence France-Presse
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Solar Power - www.icpsolar.com portable solar power for backpacking, other uses.
www.parks.ca.gov wi-fi access at CA state parks
Following is a list of park units that offer SBC FreedomLink Service:
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve
Auburn State Recreation Area
Brannan Island State Recreation Area
Clear Lake State Park
Columbia State Historic Park
Colusa-Sacramento River State Recreation Area
Crystal Cove State Park
Cuyamaca Rancho State Park
Doheny State Beach
Ed Z'berg - Sugar Pine Point State Park
Folsom Lake State Recreation Area
Half Moon Bay State Beach
Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
Huntington State Beach
Lake Oroville State Recreation Area
Lake Perris State Recreation Area
Leo Carrillo State Park
MacKerricher State Park
Malibu Lagoon State Beach
Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park
McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park
Monterey State Historic Park
Morro Bay State Park
Mount San Jacinto State Park
Mount Tamalpais State Park
Natural Bridges State Beach
Old Sacramento State Historic Park
Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park
Pismo State Beach
Point Magu State Park
Richardson Grove State Park
Salton Sea State Recreation Area
Samuel P. Taylor State Park
San Buenaventura State Beach
San Clemente State Beach
San Elijo State Beach
San Juan Bautista State Historic Park
Silver Strand State Beach
Silverwood Lake State Recreation Area
Sonoma State Historic Park
South Carlsbad State Beach
Sutter's Fort State Historic Park
Torrey Pines State Beach
Van Damme State Park
Will Rogers State Historic Park
William B. Ide Adobe State Historic Park
Podcasting
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Podcasting is a term coined when the use of RSS and other syndication technologies became popular for distributing audio content for mobile devices. Today podcasting is a more generic term that is evolving as people understand what it means.
A podcast is simply an audio file, although increasingly people are applying the term to video and other media, that is placed on the Internet for anyone to download, specifically the location of this file may be known through subscribing to a websites feed. You can download the file just as you would normally do by clicking on it from the website's pages. However special programs exist that will automatically download and store the podcast file until you want to listen to it.
Podcasting can use RSS and other syndication technologies that allow applications
to tell you when someone has posted an update to their website. Through this
feature you can 'subscribe' to a website and be sure to not miss an update.
http://www.tacticalreport.com/ Intelligence on Middle East Oil
Tactical Report – 23/12/05
Saudi Arabia and Eurofighter deal
Riyadh - British Defence Minister John Reid paid a visit to Riyadh early this week. At the end of his visit on 21/12/05, the British embassy in Riyadh announced a Saudi-British understanding, whereby the UK will sell an unspecified number of Eurofighter Typhoons to Saudi Arabia. Available information from Riyadh suggests that both sides have not agreed on a time-frame to begin putting their understanding into effect. But sources at the Saudi Ministry of Defence and Aviation expect next step in the middle of next year. The understanding talked about replacing British-made Tornados and other jets with Eurofighters, but do not mention the number of Tornados or that of “other jets”. The expression “other jets” has in fact made the Saudis wonder whether it includes the US-made F-5s or F-15s. National Guard sources say the Saudis have plans to upgrade RSAF fleet and not to change it. Saudi Foreign Ministry sources note the talks with the Americans over F-16 deal are still on and the talks with the French over Rafale continue (see Tactical Report Weekly Brief – No 12/27 – 8/7/05).
High Def Editing for The Masses
By Michelle Alexandria
Washington (UPI) Dec 15, 2005
With the cost of high-definition camcorders and HDTVs quickly coming down,
consumers are becoming more and more creative in how they use their video
cameras.
Companies like Ulead Systems and Pinnacle Systems are bringing HD editing to the masses with low-cost HD editing solutions like Pinnacle Studio 10 HD and Video Studio 9, which includes an HD plug-in. Both solutions give consumers the capability to edit in native HD for less than $100.
Thanks largely to government regulations, HDTV content development and delivery have moved fairly rapidly in the United States since 1994. Europe, on the other hand, chose to let the market set the pace for conversion, and there was only one channel delivering digital content in Europe in 2004.
Service expansion has been painfully slow, so the need for HDTV sets has been mired in high cost and lack of interest. England's BBC has been one of the early adopters, so European broadcasters are watching its progress before they jump in with breathtaking content.
High-def TV set sales are experiencing considerable growth in the Pacific Basin, but for a change sales in the area lag behind those in the United States. Europeans are certainly interested in high-def big-screen viewing, and the set manufacturers and European retailers are convinced that the soccer World Cup will be the key decision point for many households. Then European consumers will face the same challenge U.S. buyers face: a dizzying array of sets and techie points that will totally blow your mind.
According to Jeff Hastings, general manager for Pinnacle Systems, "There are not just two parts to the HD story -- digital capture devices and HD-ready display equipment. There is a third component -- HD editing and management -- that is just as critical. All three go together and are quickly becoming a need-to-have, not a nice-to-have."
Hasting added, "HD hardware is really driving consumer electronics purchases this year, but software to enhance, manage and share the huge amount of content created is really what makes HD quality come alive in the home, on a cell phone, gaming device, or wherever the consumer demands."
Both Ulead Video Studio 9 and Pinnacle Studio 10 offer more than just the option to edit in HD. Both system give users new to editing a "foot in the door" approach, with clean user interfaces, the ability to burn complex and professional-level DVDs, create special effects with green screen and multi-track overlays.
Ulead spokesman Andy Marken, of the California-based Marken Communications, said, "Plasma and LCD TV screens are rapidly coming into the "consumer" price range, but more importantly people are finding that they want to do their own video, their own way and show it/share it. It is a phenomenon that is based on the uncertainty of the world around us and wanting to be more in control of 'my' content when I want to watch it.
"Consumers are part of the growing number of home video enthusiasts who are not satisfied with just plugging their camcorder into the back of a TV and watching unedited video. They're proving that even busy people who aren't technically savvy can quickly create entertaining videos that can be shared and played back on a TV with a DVD player."
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Japan princess turns 42, hopes to resume duties
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Crown Princess Masako, who turned 42 on Friday, expressed hopes she could gradually resume her official duties after being mostly out of public view for the past two years due to a stress-related illness.
Masako, a Harvard-educated former diplomat, said she was slowly recovering from a mental disorder caused by the stresses of adapting to royal life, but her doctors noted her condition was not stable and that she was still receiving counseling and treatment with drugs.
Japan's Crown Princess Masako, who turned 42 on Friday,
expressed hopes she could gradually resume her official duties after being
mostly out of public view for the past two years due to a stress-related
illness. Masako is seen waving to well-wishers at the Imperial Palace in
Tokyo in this January 2, 2005 file photo. (REUTERS/Kimimasa Mayama)
"My physical condition is gradually improving, and very slowly I am becoming
able to appear in public," Masako said in a statement. "While being
supported by the people around me, I will try to recover both physically and
mentally."
Royal-watchers have said pressure to bear a male heir was a key cause of Masako's plight.
Masako and her husband, Crown Prince Naruhito, have one daughter, Aiko, who turned four last week.
Under current law, only males can ascend the throne, but the government plans next year to submit to parliament a bill that would give women equal rights to do so.
That would clear the path for Aiko eventually to become Japan's first reigning empress in centuries.
Masako's doctors said she was making progress but urged patience.
"Physically, she still has ups and downs, and her condition is easily influenced by mental and physical stress," the doctors said in a report made available by the Imperial Household Agency, which handles the royal family's affairs.
Masako, who gave up her career as a diplomat to marry Naruhito in 1993, had hoped to act as a "royal envoy" after her marriage, but her travel has been restricted by court officials.
In a nod to those ambitions, the doctors said: "It will be quite important that she be able to use the knowledge and experience she acquired prior to her marriage ... and that this be reflected in her official duties."
Some of the pressure on Masako may ease if the imperial succession law is changed to allow women to ascend the throne.
Advisers to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi last month recommended that women be allowed to do so to avoid a succession crisis due to the fact that no boys have been born into the royal family in four decades.
Media reports, though, have said that traditionalists, eager to preserve what they believe is an imperial male line stretching back more than 2,000 years, might exert pressure to delay implementation of the changes to give Masako time to bear a son.
Masako on Friday sounded like any mother astonished at her child's growth.
"In no time at all, Aiko has turned four," she said.
"I feel very emotional at the idea that next year she will already
enter kindergarten."
Copyright © 2005 Reuters
Iranian President Bans Western Music From Airwaves
By Ben Mattison
20 Dec 2005
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's recently elected president, has banned Western music, including classical music, from state television and radio stations, the Associated Press reports.
"Blocking indecent and Western music from the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting is required," read a statement posted on the web site of the Iran's Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council.
According to the AP, Western music was banned from Iran after the Islamist revolution of 1979, but began to return in the 1980s, and became omnipresent in the late 1990s under president Mohammed Khatami, a reformer.
During the cultural thaw, Ali Rahbari, a Vienna-trained conductor, returned to lead the Tehran Symphony. But he resigned in November to protest low pay for his orchestra's musicians. Performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony just before his departure prompted anger from conservatives, the AP says.
Ahmadinejad, a hardliner, has made a series of confrontational statements since taking office in August, declaring at one point that Israel should be "wiped off the map."
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coming: bulgaria, romania, saudi arabia
Report: Iranian President escapes assassination attempt
Posted: 20-12-2005 , 15:24 GMT
Al Hayat newspaper reported on Tuesday that Iranian President’s motorcade was attacked on December 14 in south-eastern province of Sistan and Balochistan, one of the least developed areas of the country. AhmadinejadAccording to the paper, the attack took place on the Zabol-Saravan highway.
A presidential security guard and a motorcade driver were killed in the attack, the report added, citing "reliable sources" in Tehran. Another guard was wounded during the clash between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's guards and the attackers, who were described as "bandits". It was reported that the attack was carried out by about ten gunmen. Some of them killed in the clash.
Al Hayat said Ahmadinejad was on his way to watch a big military exercise, when his motorcade was attacked.
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
Daily Yoga Tip
The word sattva comes from the root sat, which means "being" or "truth." It's literally the power of beingness. Sattvic strength is one part discipline and three parts trust — trust that the invisible is stronger than what you can see or touch, and that what you are speaks louder than what you say.
True sattvic strength arises out of a willingness to wait, to allow actions to unfold out of the quiet of your center. The forceful agent of sattvic strength is the force of clear intention — a subtle, yet unbending clarity about what it is that your heart and soul truly want.
But holding yourself in stillness isn't easy. It's one thing to feel sattvic strength when you're meditating, because that's when you "officially" allow yourself to spiral inward. But the real test of sattvic strength is staying connected to it while you're acting.
When, through practice, you find the ability to keep your attention firmly centered inside and still keep enough of your mind focused on your actions so that you function skillfully, you draw on this strength. This is what lets you remain steady no matter what distractions storm around you.
This kind of strength doesn't have to be aggressive or hard; it has firmness that comes from observing your emotional reactions without identifying with them. It doesn't have to overexert itself, because it knows how to follow the path of least resistance, flowing like water.
Sattva strength always radiates from the inside out. It comes from the center, and it doesn't matter how you discover or access that center as long as you get there. As you become more familiar with this steady power, you'll find it in moments when your intention and motivation are clear. This strength is an infallible source of support — the support that never leaves you
The Flimsiest Clock In The World
Japan's Citizen watch employee display a prototype model of the world's
first flexible digital clock display in 3mm thickness, which utilized an
electronic paper display, a next generation reflective display with a low
power consumption, thin, light and flexible like paper, developed by E-Ink
of the US at the Eco Products Exhibition in Tokyo 15 December 2005. Citizen
is expecting to commercialize similar clock early next year. AFP Photo /
Yoshikazu Tsuno.
Tokyo (AFP) Dec 15, 2005
A Japanese watchmaker said Thursday it had created the world's first flexible
digital clock which is as thin as camera film and can be bent around the
curve of a wall.
The clock is only three millimeters (0.12 inches) thick and offers better visibility from sharp angles and in poor visibility or high sunlight than existing models, Citizen Watch said.
"It can be set along the walls of a building or on round pillars of train stations or offices, letting people check the time from widely different positions," said a spokesman for the company.
The clock, measuring 53 by 130 centimeters (21.2 by 52 inches), displays time in black numbers using technology developed by E Ink of the United States.
It consumes less power than conventional digital clocks, with its battery life 20 times longer.
Citizen will start production of the clock early next year upon receiving orders with a price tag at 500,000-600,000 yen (4,200-5,000 dollars) each.
The Others 2.5 stars
BY ROGER EBERT / August 10, 2001
Cast & Credits
Grace: ">Nicole Kidman
Mrs. Mills: ">Fionnula Flanagan
Anne: ">Alakina Mann
Nicholas: ">James Bentley
Dimension Films Presents A Film Written And Directed By ">Alejandro Amenabar. Running Time: 104 Minutes. Rated PG-13 (For Thematic Elements And Frightening Moments).
"">The Others" is a haunted house mystery--from which you assume, trained by recent movies, that it is filled with flashy special effects, violent shocks, blood-curdling apparitions, undulating staircases, telescoping corridors, graves opening in the basement, doors that will not lock or will not open, and dialogue like "There's something in this house! Something . . . diabolic!" You would be right about the dialogue. This is a haunted house movie, dark and atmospheric, but it's quiet and brooding. It has less in common with, say, "The House on Haunted Hill" than with "">The Sixth Sense" or a story by Oliver Onions. It's not a freak show but a waiting game, in which an atmosphere of dread slowly envelops the characters--too slowly.
Comparing this movie with "">The Sixth Sense," we feel a renewed admiration for the way ">M. Night Shyamalan was able to maintain tension through little things that were happening, instead of (this film's strategy) big things that seem about to happen.
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China Quick to Offer Details on New Spill
# Authorities seal dams and pump neutralizing chemicals to counter a toxic
accident in south.
By Ching-Ching Ni, Times Staff Writer
BEIJING — The Chinese government provided details Friday of its efforts to contain the second major environmental disaster to hit the country's waterways in little more than a month.
State media reported that authorities had sealed dams and pumped neutralizing chemicals into the Bei River in the wake of a toxic spill Tuesday from a smelter in southern China's Guangdong province, where thousands of factories make up the manufacturing hub of a booming export-driven economy.
ADVERTISEMENT
As the spill threatened Guangzhou, the provincial capital north of Hong Kong,
the gates of two dams downstream from the accident were closed for the
cleanup effort, Wang Zhensheng, a local official, told the state-run China
Daily.
Zhang Weijian, director of the smelter, was fired, the official New China News Agency said.
The latest water crisis came as the country was still reeling from a chemical explosion in the northern city of Jilin last month that dumped 100 tons of carcinogenic benzene and other compounds into the Songhua River. About 3.8 million people in the downstream city of Harbin were left without tap water for nearly a week.
That leak has crossed the border into Russia, and Beijing has been forced to apologize to Moscow.
Water pollution is a problem in China. By their own admission, Chinese authorities are unable to provide safe drinking water to about 360 million people, with much of the tainted water blamed on industrial pollution.
Environmentalists say many more rivers are being poisoned in the country's relentless drive for economic progress. Often, they say, the contaminations go unreported because of local protectionism and ignorance.
The fact that the Guangdong case came to light quickly is due in part to lessons learned from the Harbin water debacle. Authorities there waited 10 days before informing the public.
"It's progress that they were more willing to report the problem," said Wen Bo, the representative in Beijing for the San Francisco-based environmental group Pacific Environment. "Too many factories are dumping chemicals into rivers. The government can't monitor them all. What we need is more public awareness to prevent these disasters."
Safety first: The best places to live in the U.S.
No place is immune from natural disasters, but you can play the odds
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastation, some Americans — particularly Gulf Coast residents — may be wondering whether there are places in the U.S. that are safe from such natural disasters.
The short answer? No. The Midwest may not be vulnerable to hurricanes, but twisters drop in regularly. Major earthquakes don't tend to strike New England, but strong winds can peel the roof off a northeastern house and snowstorms can shut down cities.
"Every location in the country is exposed to one disaster or another," says Wendy Rose, spokeswoman for the Institute for Business & Home Safety, a Tampa, Fla.-based nonprofit insurance industry group that aims to reduce losses from natural catastrophes.
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Before Prohibition:
Images
from the preprohibition era when many psychotropic substances
were legally available in America and Europe
Many of the substances prohibited today were legally available in the past. This small exposition contains samples of the many psychoactive medicines widely available during the late-19th century through the mid-20th century. Some of the pictures are oversized to improve legibility. Additional photographs are available for some products in the author's private collection
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Nanyang Technological Univ., School of Art, Design & Media
Designed to become a truly comprehensive, international university by July 2005, NTU, Singapore is launching a brand new, first of its kind, School of Art, Design & Media (ADM), designed to offer a richness, opportunities and diversity never seen before in a regional, tertiary education.
The new School will offer an undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate education and research. Its curriculum will be focused on creativity, ideas, innovation, exploration as well as professional expertise. The School will put forward truly international thinking, exposure, visiting artists, scholars and presenters, student and faculty exchanges and global relations. ADM aims to shape exciting education that draws upon contrasts and richness derived from the very best of different cultures, ideas, creativity, arts, history and global thinking. Asia is the fastest expanding vibrant market in terms of evolving educational programs, co-production, production endeavors, technologies and opportunities for international exchanges.
Our goal is to transform Singapore into a global media city by educating artistic, creative and innovative talent empowered to advance the arts, design and media beyond the present and into original intellectual property development and production thereof. ADM will become the creative haven within which studies at all levels, and artistic aspirations in innovative art & technology, design and media will be supported via cutting-edge research and production, all of them realized through global education inspiring individuality and self-discovery.