McCain ad blames Obama for rising gas prices
July 21, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate John McCain is launching a new television ad that blames Democratic rival Barack Obama for rising gasoline prices.
The ad, airing on national cable and in 11 battleground states, argues that the cost of fuel is rising because of opposition to oil drilling in the United States.
The announcer in the ad says, “Gas prices – $4, $5, no end in sight, because some in Washington are still saying no to drilling in America. No to independence from foreign oil. Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump?”
A photograph of Obama appears on the stage as a voiceover of a crowd chants: “Obama, Obama, Obama!”
McCain ad blames Obama for rising gas prices – Jul. 21, 2008.
You gotta be effing kidding me?!
Student ‘Twitters’ his way out of Egyptian jail
July 17, 2008
(CNN) — James Karl Buck helped free himself from an Egyptian jail with a one-word blog post from his cell phone.
James Karl Buck sent a message using Twitter which helped get him out of an Egyptian jail.
Buck, a graduate student from the University of California-Berkeley, was in Mahalla, Egypt, covering an anti-government protest when he and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested April 10.
On his way to the police station, Buck took out his cell phone and sent a message to his friends and contacts using the micro-blogging site Twitter.
The message only had one word. “Arrested.”
Within seconds, colleagues in the United States and his blogger-friends in Egypt — the same ones who had taught him the tool only a week earlier — were alerted that he was being held.
Twitter is a social-networking blog site that allows users to send status updates, or “tweets,” from cell phones, instant messaging services and Facebook in less than 140 characters.
Student ‘Twitters’ his way out of Egyptian jail – CNN.com.
The story is from a couple months ago but I just stumbled onto it today.
Let me know if you use Twitter. I need more Twitter friends in case something like this happens to me in Europe!
Scared yet? Sure, but don’t panic
July 15, 2008
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — This is one of those days you probably wished you stayed in bed.
Scared yet? Sure, but don’t panic – Jul. 15, 2008
I wish that was an option. It was such a roller coaster morning.
6:30am (west coast!) – Yikes. *sets buy order* Can’t get much worse right?
6:45am – Oh yes it can. *panics*
7:45am – Go for a run to take mind off this mess.
8:30am – Checks again. Why me?!
9:45am – Leaves for class. *avoids checking on the way there*
11am – Things are turning around. *feels smart for buying*
12am – I’m seeing green!
1pm (market close) – Wait, what?!
Chocolate’s bitter sweet relationship with the rainforest – CNN.com
(CNN) — “I think that in 20 years chocolate will be like caviar,” says John Mason, executive director and founder of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council (NCRC).
Could you survive a future without chocolate? Communities and the environment are also at stake.
“It will become so rare and so expensive that the average Joe just won’t be able to afford it.”
The prospect of a future without a ready supply of chocolate is not a pleasant thought for anyone with a sweet tooth, but it’s an even more terrifying prospect for producer countries that depend on cocoa beans for a huge portion of their GDP.
Yields are declining all across the cocoa plantations of West Africa, where two thirds of the world’s supply is grown, as soils are degraded and the area able to support the crop retreats, according to Mason.
“The way we farm is just not sustainable,” he says. “I’m afraid by the time we wake up to that fact it will be too late. I’ve worked in Ghana for 25 years and I can show you huge areas that can no longer support a crop.”
Babies thrown off tower
May 2, 2008
Video – Babies thrown off tower from CNN.com
Babies are dropped several stories for good health and good luck at a shrine in Solapur, in Maharastra, India.
I saw this on TV yesterday. What happens if they miss or if there’s a sudden gush of wind?
Things your body can do after you die
May 1, 2008
Things your body can do after you die – CNN.com
From getting hitched to saving the environment, here’s proof you can still be a busybody long after you kick the bucket.
I went to see Body Worlds a couple years ago. It was fascinating (not freaky at all).
lyndon. 