Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
larry brown kevin hart thomas kinkade brewers pat summit courtney stodden matt cain
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Einstein - Pet ID Tags
E = Adorably Smart Pet Squared!
Your pets don?t look twice and search for pet toys that aren?t there after that fake-out throw. They know all of the tricks you taught them like the back of their paws, and all of the other pets in the neighborhood are just, well, simpletons. Maybe your pets are a little cocky, but they?re still sweet, so why not adorn them with a badge of pride with the ?Einstein? Pet ID Tag!
Made in the mountains of North Carolina with extremely durable recycled steel core, these pet ID tags are made to last through anything! Custom printed, originally designed, these pet ID tags are made with you and your pet in mind, just like the ?Einstein? Pet ID Tag. Plus, we even help you design your own pet ID tags! Like Albert said ?If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor,? so let the world know the truth about your pet and create a custom pet ID tag today!
james jones aladdin black forest ufc 144 fight card ufc 144 results acura nsx all star weekend 2012
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
starship troopers nfl nfl cruise ship italy patriots broncos game saints willis mcgahee
Friday, June 22, 2012
One Idea from Rio+20: Investing in Green Infrastructure ? Donald ...
Twenty years ago, world leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro to grapple with climate change, biological diversity, and other environmental challenges. Today they are back again, but with much less fanfare. If my Twitter feed is any indication, Rio+20 is getting much less attention that the original Earth Summit.
One item that deserves attention is greater emphasis on getting business involved in protecting the environment. For example, two dozen leading businesses?from Alcoa to Xerox?teamed up with The Nature Conservancy on a vision for The New Business Imperative: Valuing Natural Capital (interactive, pdf).
The report lays out the business case that natural resources have real economic value, even if they aren?t traded in markets, and that protecting them can sometimes reduce costs, maintain supplies, soften the blow of future regulation, and build goodwill with customers, communities, and workers. All kind of obvious, at one level, but nonetheless useful to see in print with examples and commitments.
One item that caught my eye is the potential for ?green? infrastructure to replace ?gray?:
Strong, reliable manmade (?gray?) infrastructure undergirds a healthy marketplace, and most companies depend heavily on it to operate effectively and efficiently. Yet increasingly, companies are seeing the enormous potential for ?natural infrastructure? in the form of wetlands and forests, watersheds and coastal habitats to perform many of the same tasks as gray infrastructure ? sometimes better and more cheaply.
For instance, investing in protection of coral reefs and mangroves can provide a stronger barrier to protect coastal operations against flooding and storm surge during extreme weather, while inland flooding can be reduced by strategic investments in catchment forests, vegetation and marshes. Forests are also crucial for maintaining usable freshwater sources, as well as for naturally regulating water flow.
Putting funds into maintaining a wetland near a processing or manufacturing plant can be a more cost- effective way of meeting regulatory requirements than building a wastewater treatment facility, as evidenced by the Dow Chemical Seadrift, Texas facility, where a 110-acre constructed wetland provides tertiary wastewater treatment of five million gallons a day. While the cost of a traditional ?gray?treatment installation averages >$40 million, Dow?s up-front costs were just $1.4 million.
For companies reliant on agricultural systems, improved land management of forests and ecosystems along field edges and streams, along with the introduction of more diversified and resilient sustainable agriculture systems, can minimize dependency on external inputs like artificial fertilizers, pesticides and blue irrigation water.
To encourage such investments, where they make sense, lawmakers and regulators need to focus on performance?is the wastewater getting clean??rather than the use of specific technologies or construction.
george h w bush pauly d project faith hill autism obamacare adrienne rich cesar chavez day
Picture of the day: Flying Donald Cerrone
After beating Jeremy Stephens in a decision at UFC on Fuel 3, Donald Cerrone is taking a well-deserved vacation. In addition to being a fighter, a rodeo-er (because I assume that's the word for someone involved with rodeos) and a fan of pontoon boats, Cerrone is also a wakeboarder.
whitney houston i will always love you breaking news whitney houston carmen whitney houston last performance cpac straw poll breaking dawn part 2 breaking dawn part 2
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Drink Your Salad: Summer Juices | The Kitchn
On hot summer days, we often don't feel like cooking or even eating. In fact, we have a bad habit of forgoing lunch or dinner altogether, but this year we've resolved to change that by keeping the juicer, blender, and a bushel of fresh summer produce close at hand.
We don't necessarily advocate drinking your fruits and vegetables in place of a well-rounded meal (or even a salad) but let's face it, sometimes it's just too hot to eat, cook or think!
Here are a few refreshing combinations that incorporate seasonal produce. What are your favorites?
cucumber + watermelon + basil
? Recipe: Cucumber Watermelon Juice at Eating Clean Recipes
broccoli + peach + apple
? Recipe: Sweet Summer Juice at Reboot Your Life
kale + apple + honeydew melon
? Recipe: Ultra Green Juice at Whole Living
spinach + zucchini + ginger
? Recipe: Summer Green Juice at Reboot Your Life
tomato + celery + onion
? Recipe: Homemade Tomato Juice at Simply Recipes
Related: Fruit & Vegetable Juicers: Should You Buy One?
(Image: Eating Clean Recipes)
the band colton dixon jenny mccarthy houston weather dwyane wade magic mike trailer the night they drove old dixie down
Home health software - HEALTH, BEAUTY & FITNESS
* Personalized service.
Related Post Home health software
The doctors or medical officials are those who seem health arizona like angels to individuals who? re ailing and therefore are in acute discomfort These two accounts offer tax advantages of trading money into them but they? re handled in a different way. Tips & Alerts Contact a Captured, your cabinet removed the proposal to incorporate domestic employees, beedi employees and street suppliers too. A complementary health specialist is really a professional U. S. Including from standing, kneeling, sitting and stretch exercises onto it. You will find, obviously, many jobs associated with patient care. You need The center Ashburn has well qualified and experienced physician and medical related staff to consider proper care of your minor or major health problems.charlize theron telenav telenav wade phillips wade phillips time person of the year sag nominations
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Video: NAHB Sentiment Index Increases 1%
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
mary louise parker cher morgellons nhl all star draft touch nitrous oxide rihanna thug life tattoo
Monday, June 18, 2012
Justin Bieber: A 'Humble' Evolution From My World To Believe
Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, opens up to MTV News about the singer before 'Bieber Live' airs Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.
By Jocelyn Vena
Justin Bieber
Photo:
In the lead-up to the release of Justin Bieber's album Believe, there has been a lot of talk about how much the 18-year-old has grown up since he dropped his first EP, My World, back in 2009. Sure, he is actually older, but the conversation has also been focused on how his music sounds more mature. He no longer seems to be crafting sugary-sweet tracks like "Baby."
The pop star will celebrate his mature new album during "Bieber Live," airing Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on MTV. Bieber will join Sway and 100 lucky fans for an interview and a pair of performances.
Adding to his growth is the fact that in the two and a half years since that debut release, Bieber has quite literally done it all. He's toured the world (several times over), topped the charts, won a lot of awards, fallen in love, become a boss to his own artist, owned the box office, befriended some of the biggest MCs in the game, vowed to "Never Say Never" and, yes, became legal.
As tiring as it may sound to be Justin Bieber, his manager, Scooter Braun, notes that when the singer sat down to make the album, he didn't want to rush it or be lazy about it. He wanted it to be perfect. His experiences are not only helping shape him as an artist but also helping him mature as one.
"You know, I think a lot of times with big superstars, they don't always deliver on that big album. They don't meet the expectation ... sometimes it's because they're superstars," Braun explained to MTV News. "Maybe they think they know it all and they don't want to listen to anyone else's input, and sometimes that works and sometimes that doesn't.
"Justin was really humble about this," he continued. "He probably wrote 200 songs and we just kept working and working and narrowing it down. And there were so many records that didn't even make it that we'll save for something else. I think when it was all said and done, there wasn't one person who listened to that album all the whole way through and thought that we didn't have something special and really great and something that didn't just reach the teenagers, but everyone — without losing the teenagers."
The album certainly has been teased for quite some time. The buzz began to really pick up around the time of the release of his holiday album in 2011, when he dropped the name Justin Timberlake as his template for career evolution, setting the bar quite high. "I'm proudest of Justin with this album 'cause I think he delivered," Braun said. "For a superstar to deliver means a lot."
Others who worked with Bieber on the release told MTV News during the recording process that it was important for him to make music that would help expand his brand beyond the tween and teen market. A big part of Bieber's musical evolution, however, is about making sure no one gets alienated.
"The only conversation we've had about Justin's album that we're about to do is it's really important that it's the proper transition because we've seen him [with] 'Baby,' now we're watching him grow up," his vocal producer, Kuk Harrell, told MTV News back in November. "And we can't just throw him into the adult game right away. It has to be the proper transition. There's a record in between."
That mission to help Bieber make the right choices as an adult artist was certainly priority number one when Bieber hit the studio with Mike Posner to work on the album's lead single, "Boyfriend." "I think our goal was to make something that me and my friends could listen to in the car," Posner explained in March. "I think we've all known Justin since he was 13, and that's not the kid I was in the studio with anymore. He's an 18-year-old. He skateboards with Lil Wayne and hangs out with Lil Twist. Those are his homies. And he listens to hip-hop and he's a really cool kid. He's not like a corny guy.
"So I wanted to make something that reflected who he is now and who he is going to continue to be," Posner continued. "I think people have been waiting [for] when he's going to turn that corner, and the time is now."
Listening to his album, it's clear that Bieber is trying out new sounds, from dance to R&B and everything in between. But he also just plain sounds different. His voice is deeper than it was when he first started making music. That register change is something he commented on in a recent interview with MTV News.
"It's really deep," he joked. "The thing is, I'd always put out random songs and give it to my fans, and when my voice was changing I was doing that. So they didn't randomly just hear [it and go], 'He's got a deep voice now.' It was gradual. They didn't realize it that much. It just kind of happened. The tone is still the same. It's just deeper and sexier."
In the end, while it may seem like he's taking a cut from another pop star named Justin, Bieber is actually focused on following yet another megastar's template for success.
"He's growing and so is his music," Braun said. "And I don't think he's transitioning and losing any fans. I think he's just growing. We always study Michael Jackson and the thing I loved about his career is he never lost that 2-year-old that bounced to his music. But at the same time, you'd go to a club and there were adults bouncing also. And I think that's what we want to do with Justin."
Don't miss "Bieber Live" on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on MTV, followed by "MTV First: Katy Perry" at 7:53 p.m., when Katy will debut her "Wide Awake" music video.
Related Photos Related Artistsno child left behind no child left behind neurofibromatosis steve jobs fbi file suge knight obama birth control mortgage settlement
China astronauts complete successful space docking
BEIJING |
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese astronauts carried out a manned docking with an experimental space module on Monday, the latest milestone in China's ambitious campaign to build a space station.
The Shenzhou 9 and its three-person crew, which includes China's first woman in space Liu Yang, linked with the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) 1 module, with state television showing the pictures live.
Almost three hours later, the blue jumpsuit-wearing mission commander, Jing Haipeng, entered the module followed by colleague Liu Wang and Liu Yang, the first time China has been able to transfer astronauts between two orbiting craft.
Rendezvous and docking exercises between the two vessels are an important hurdle in China's efforts to acquire the technological and logistical skills to run a full space lab that can house astronauts for long periods.
During the 13-day mission, the astronauts will work and sleep aboard Tiangong 1, a trial module that includes an exercise bike and a video telephone booth, according to media.
The mission has been accompanied by a blaze of national pride and has been given blanket coverage by state media, down to discussion on how flying a space ship is a bit like driving a car and how the astronauts will be able to spice up their food with chilli sauce.
China is still far from catching up with the established space superpowers, the United States and Russia. The Tiangong 1 is a trial module, not the building block of a space station.
But the docking mission is the latest show of China's growing prowess in space and comes while budget restraints and shifting priorities have held back U.S. manned space launches.
This is China's fourth manned space mission since 2003 when astronaut Yang Liwei became the country's first person in orbit.
The United States will not test a new rocket to take people into space until 2017, and Russia has said manned missions are no longer a priority.
But NASA has begun investing in U.S. firms to provide commercial spaceflight services and is spending about $3 billion a year on a new rocket and capsule to send astronauts to the moon, asteroids and eventually to Mars.
China plans an unmanned moon landing and deployment of a moon rover. Scientists have raised the possibility of sending a man to the moon, but not before 2020.
(Reporting by Michael Martina and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)
ok state kurt budke regis philbin regis and kelly reno fire regis philbin last show regis philbin last show
IOC probes black market Olympic ticket scandal
LONDON (AP) ? International Olympic officials have opened a high level investigation into allegations that authorized representatives in more than 50 countries ? including a national Olympic committee ? were involved in selling London Olympics tickets on the black market for profit.
The International Olympic Committee convened an emergency session Saturday to discuss a dossier of evidence presented to it by Britain's Sunday Times. The newspaper published an investigation Sunday claiming that officials have been offering tickets for the July 27-Aug. 12 games, including hot events such as the men's 100m final, at vastly inflated prices.
One of the most damaging allegations was against Spyros Capralos, the Greek Olympic Committee president and top organizer for the 2004 Athens Olympics.
He was quoted as saying he had "pulled strings" with London organizing chairman Sebastian Coe to obtain an extra batch of premium tickets for official agents in Greece, on the pretext that demand in his country outstripped expectations.
The paper said Capralos admitted in talks with its undercover reporters that demand had actually been very low, and that many of the tickets were subsequently sold on to people outside Greece for profit.
The London organizing committee said Capralos' alleged boasts of discussions with Coe were untrue.
Coe had told the Greek Olympic Committee that tickets were allocated in accordance with IOC ticketing policy, the London committee said. "There was no further contact ? either formal or informal ? on this subject," it said in a statement.
Capralos was not immediately reachable for comment. A Greek Olympic Committee official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, denied that anything untoward had taken place.
At issue are ticket allocations given by organizers to each of the 205 national Olympic committees to sell in their home countries. The committees appoint an organization within their countries to sell the tickets, a process meant to ensure equity.
IOC rules forbid national committees from selling tickets abroad, inflating ticket prices or selling tickets to unauthorized resellers.
But the Sunday Times said its undercover reporters, who posed as illegal ticket sellers acting for clients in the Middle East, caught officials red-handed. It said it has presented the IOC with a dossier of evidence on 27 officials controlling the tickets for 54 countries.
The paper even posted on its website videos of its reporters' negotiations with Capralos and some of the agents. They include official ticket agents in Serbia, Lithuania and China, who offered to sell the undercover reporters premium tickets for up to 6,000 pounds ($9,407) each.
One of those accused of falling for the ruse was former Olympic swimmer Yoav Bruck, who is authorized to sell tickets in Israel and Cyprus. He denied allegations that he offered the Sunday Times reporters the best seats to the 100m final.
"The report is swamped with untruths, lies and inventions that cries to the heavens," he told Israel's Channel 2 TV. "I am saying that we are clean ... we are not selling anything we are not allowed to."
The report also alleged that Greg Harney, an executive at travel company Cartan Tours and a former top official at the U.S. Olympic Committee, told the undercover reporters how to conceal an illegal ticket sale.
The IOC said in a statement on its website Saturday that it "takes these allegations very seriously and has immediately taken the first steps to investigate."
The report was the latest in a string of similar allegations. In May, a top Ukrainian Olympic official resigned following allegations that he offered to sell thousands of dollars' worth of tickets for the London Games on the black market.
Volodymyr Gerashchenko, secretary general of Ukraine's national Olympic committee, was accused in a BBC television report of telling an undercover reporter posing as an unauthorized dealer that he was willing to sell up to 100 tickets for cash.
Ticketing problems have plagued London's organizers for months, with many complaining about the official website's intractable computer problems and inability to cope with huge demand.
Many Brits have been frustrated that they couldn't attend an event that is costing the nation 9.3 billion pounds ($14.6 billion), and the problem has prompted some London officials to demand more transparency on how the tickets were allocated.
Organizers had promised a full accounting once the games are done, but members of the London Assembly, a public watchdog group, have been demanding an accounting of how many tickets have been sold so far and at what price.
Critics of London organizers believe a disproportionate number of tickets have been sold in higher price brackets, excluding those who can't afford to pay for the most popular events.
__
Demetris Nellas in Athens, Greece, Danica Kirka in London and Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
odd lamar d antoni fashion star andrew bird lizzie borden lizzie borden
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Unmanned Air Force space plane lands in Calif.
FILE - This undated file image provided by the U.S. Air Force shows the X-37B spacecraft. The unmanned Air Force space plane steered itself to a landing early Saturday, June 16, 2012, at a California military base, capping a 15-month clandestine mission. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force, File)
FILE - This undated file image provided by the U.S. Air Force shows the X-37B spacecraft. The unmanned Air Force space plane steered itself to a landing early Saturday, June 16, 2012, at a California military base, capping a 15-month clandestine mission. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force, File)
FILE - This Feb. 8, 2011 file image provided by the U.S. Air Force shows the X-37B during encapsulation within the United Launch Alliance Atlas V 5-meter fairing in Titusville, Fla. The unmanned Air Force space plane steered itself to a landing early Saturday, June 16, 2012, at a California military base, capping a 15-month clandestine mission. (AP Photo/US Air Force, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? An unmanned Air Force space plane steered itself to a landing early Saturday at a California military base, capping a 15-month clandestine mission.
The spacecraft, which was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in March 2011, conducted in-orbit experiments during the mission, officials said. It was the second such autonomous landing at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles. In 2010, an identical unmanned spacecraft returned to Earth after seven months and 91 million miles in orbit.
The latest homecoming was set in motion when the stubby-winged robotic X-37B fired its engine to slip out of orbit, then pierced through the atmosphere and glided down the runway like an airplane.
"With the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet, the X-37B OTV program brings a singular capability to space technology development," said Lt. Col. Tom McIntyre, the X-37B's program manager. "The return capability allows the Air Force to test new technologies without the same risk commitment faced by other programs. We're proud of the entire team's successful efforts to bring this mission to an outstanding conclusion."
With the second X-37B on the ground, the Air Force planned to launch the first one again in the fall. An exact date has not been set.
The twin X-37B vehicles are part of a military program testing robotically controlled reusable spacecraft technologies. Though the Air Force has emphasized the goal is to test the space plane itself, there's a classified payload on board ? a detail that has led to much speculation about the mission's ultimate purpose.
Some amateur trackers think the craft carried an experimental spy satellite sensor judging by its low orbit and inclination, suggesting reconnaissance or intelligence gathering rather than communications.
Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who runs Jonathan's Space Report, which tracks the world's space launches and satellites, said it's possible it was testing some form of new imaging.
The latest X-37B was boosted into orbit atop an Atlas 5 rocket. It was designed to stay aloft for nine months, but the Air Force wanted to test its endurance. After determining the space plane was performing well, the military decided in December to extend the mission.
Little has been said publicly about the second X-37B flight and operations. At a budget hearing before the Senate Armed Services subcommittee in March, William Shelton, head of the Air Force Space Command, made a passing mention.
That the second X-37B has stayed longer in space than the first shows "the flexibility of this unique system," he told lawmakers.
Defense analysts are divided over its usefulness.
Joan Johnson-Freese, professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College, said such a craft could give the U.S. "eyes" over conflict regions faster than a satellite.
"Having a vehicle with a broad range of capabilities that can get into space quickly is a very good thing," she said.
Yousaf Butt, a nuclear physicist and scientific consultant for the Federation of American Scientists, thinks the capabilities of the X-37B could be done more cheaply with a disposable spacecraft.
"I believe one of the reasons that the mission is still around is institutional inertia," he said.
The arc of the X-37 program spans back to 1999 and has changed hands several times. Originally a NASA project, the space agency in 2004 transferred it to the Pentagon's research and development arm, DARPA, and then to the secretive Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been poured into development, but the current total spent remains a secret.
Built by Boeing Government Space Systems, a unit of the company's satellite manufacturing area, the 11,000-pound space plane stands 9 1/2 feet tall and is just over 29 feet long, with a wingspan of less than 15 feet. It possesses two angled tail fins rather than a single vertical stabilizer. Once in orbit, it has solar panels that unfurl to charge batteries for electrical power.
McDowell of the Jonathan's Space Report sees a downside. He noted it'll be tough for the Air Force to send up such planes on short notice if it has to rely on the Atlas V rocket, which requires lengthy preparations.
"The requirement to go on Atlas V is a problem; they may need to look at a new launch vehicle that would be ready to go more quickly," he said.
___
Online:
X-37B fact sheet: http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=16639
Vandenberg AFB: http://www.vandenberg.af.mil
Associated Pressgabby giffords geithner gabrielle giffords juliette lewis chelsea handler mitch daniels shirataki noodles
Plot Stuff!
An academy for demigods, but not all is well when Hades gets mad.
Owner:
Game Masters:
This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Demigod Academy?. Anything posted here will also show up there.Topic Tags:
Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.Roommate list
These may be subject to change. right now it's:
(three roommates per room)
room 1~Rosalind Levine, Alexander Hayes, Nova Artanin
room 2~Sator Terensis, Ashley Vie, Douglas Merrywhether
room 3~Shima Suyuke, Sapphira Black, Seth McAlister
room 4~Roy Notus, Archer Kennedy, Cali Rivers
room 5~Victoria Angelo, Athena's child, Siren Rivers
-
Belladonna Dawn - Member for 2 years
Now that everyone is here, we will begin! since all school roleplays start with the characters in their rooms and it usually never goes anywhere, let's begin where your things are in there rooms already and the gods will give the "welcome to school speech" and then you all go to your first class or whatever ^^ And you're all in all the same classes. Okay, I'll get the starter post up in a little bit and then we'll begin!
As always, anyone who wants to join may do so even after we've started. and anyone who wants to make a second/third/etc. character may do so.
-
Belladonna Dawn - Member for 2 years
Post a reply
-
RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.
If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.
Who is online
Registered users: 7achary*, A.C.*, Adantas*, Adultcontent, Akantha*, Akionakamura, AngelBell*, Angel's Whisper, ArcticFox*, Aria Montgomery, Arluar*, Armageddon*, Ashes-6695, Aufeis*, AugustArria*, Augustinsect*, Auroria, AwkwardRanger, barney_fife*, BAWADABOO*, Beach-Born-Boy*, Belladonna Dawn*, Beta Type Jakuri*, Blackbird26*, BleedingLover*, Brock10*, Bromander Shepard*, BumbleDrop*, Byte*, c.allen2.11*, Caelus, Canibelle*, cantdoright, CherryCitrus*, Chloe De Luca, Cloasse, Colonel_Masters, Coloratura*, conor, Cookiemunster*, CrashQueen, CriminalMinds*, Cure, CuriousPrincess97*, curtsive, CuteAsKaylah, Cypher, Dalmar, Dante Angelico*, DarkJinxx02, dealing with it, Deallo, DemiKara*, Demon of Bereavement*, demoniclysayra, desire99600*, diabolicalxdamsel, dig17*, Digital_Muse*, DivineFantasy, dream cast soul*, DreamerOnTheStars, DuskFire35*, DustAndEchoes, Eddy V. Sovorov*, Ergent Seth, evilfang, eye see you, FamishedPants*, Fencer*, Fight The Tears*, Firewind, FizzGig*, Flicker*, forgotten*, freakofnature*, Fredalice*, Free_Polity*, FreeRunner*, Freimeier*, Fruity_Loopsxx*, gabriellaluvscanada, Generalfoley*, gezzygezzy, Gintoki Sakata, GoodJobDino*, Google [Bot], Google Adsense [Bot], Google Feedfetcher, gperry88*, GreyMind, Grumpy-Converse, hanybanany*, Hinasil*, Hitomi-san*, HitoriRaven*, Horseygirl*, hostilecrayon*, Hypnosis*, Imagine That!, Insomniatic*, InuYashaLuver98, Irish Wolf, jackrules158*, JewelsJade557*, JimmyTheRat*, John_234*, JubilousOccasion, JustQuit, Juvenile-River*, Kai, Kaire23*, Katie46, KDWonderz, Kenzi*, Kestrel, KiyoshiChan, Kokonoe*, Korrye*, krumbla*, Kudak the Smasher, KuroRyu*, KuruLesperance*, LeBeau, LeeHitsugaya, Lingeringrepose*, Lloyd999*, lom.conor*, lostamongtrees*, LoveHateKindOfGirl*, lovelydivergence, LuckyNumber24, Lufia, Lukisod, LyricalZodiac*, madisontaylorjb*, MaeMae, Magix, Majestic-12 [Bot], MarchHare*, Marcus, marksmanoftruth*, Mela*, MirrorMirror1498, misstoniann, Modesty, MolecularMachine, Moonbow*, Mr_Doomed*, MrJuon*, MSNbot Media, mummydove*, Namaru*, ncDragonfire*, Negative Bowser*, Nevan*, NewKidOnTheBlock*, Nightmaric_Angel*, nightscapture*, nightwolf, No-one-special*, nour06, Nyghtfang*, Outcast-Angel, Outlaw*, Palsied, PlutoDirect, Porecomesis*, PreachingLegionary, PrincessBoy*, Prose*, PureSpeed022*, qbsuperstar03, quizzicallyquixotic*, Raidose*, RainbowFace, rariszoo, RawrImaPanda*, Raziel .*, ReaperGirl4*, REGO*, Rem?us*, Renthead*, Resolution*, RhiannontheDane*, Rill, RoleplayChick, Romaneck, Royale*, Rulke*, Saarai*, Sacred Wolf, Sage Akia*, Santuris*, SarahLiaa, Saviarre, Script*, Selmaina*, Setsugie*, Seveneleven*, ShadowWake, SilverAngelWings, silverclawedmouse, SilverInk*, Sirius Baren, skindeep*, SkullsandSlippers, Skwidge*, SkyRight*, slcam*, Slendyman*, SlightlyIrregular*, smrtazz13*, Sneakyrio, Sokka25*, Solo Wing Pixy*, Something?*, Soul_Alchemist, Spiral Thoughts, spudjohnson*, StandardFiend, StitchSaysHi, Strawberrykiss46, SugarPlum2, Synicate*, T?far?s, Tainted Twinkee, Talisman*, tallyrebel, TandraLoris, Tawanos*, Tayloremond*, Tech Jam, TechScience, thanatosblack, The Great Thundorz*, The Illusionist*, TheIMan, TheLoveDraw*, ThePsycoWarlock, throne, Tiko*, Tilt, True Grave*, TsuruyaSan*, TwiinArmageddon2, TwistedxXxAffairs, Usui*, Vestiline*, ViceVersus*, victorygodess, VitaminHeart*, Vizcious*, WadeJackel*, Welcome Home, Wild1, Wing06Twilight, WittyWriter88*, WordSail, Wraith, Wudgeous*, xArmageddon*, XavierDantius32, xoferif*, XxEvil1xX*, XxYuraxX, yogitheambrangyl, Yonbibuns*, ZacharyTC*, Zenia*, Zentose*, ZeroTolerance, Zitacamron95, zodiak177, ZoeyAutopsyx
matt bomer westminster kennel club dog show jeremy lin game winner chocolate covered strawberries shrimp scampi kate upton si cover lobster recipes
Baby Soap Linked To Infants Testing Positive For Marijuana (PHOTOS)
A new study out of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill reveals some baby soaps may cause infants to test positive for marijuana, reports My Health News Daily.
While researchers aren't sure why the tests came out positive, they asserted infants were not experiencing a "high" from the soap.
"It's not marijuana in any way, shape or form," said study researcher Catherine Hammett-Stabler, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina.
Researchers first became aware of the issue when nurses at a North Carolina hospital noticed a high number of positive urine tests, according to WFMY News.
The study was conducted so families wouldn't be falsely accused of exposing children to illegal drugs, a form of child abuse that would need to be reported to social services.
Check out a slideshow of the brands researchers say produced a positive marijuana test.
Also on HuffPost:
Contribute to this Story:
"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });live oak mark kelly mark kelly jeff goldblum annie annie zuccotti park
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Yellowstone worker falls to death first day on job
By msnbc.com staff and news services
CODY, Wyoming -- Search teams on Friday recovered the body of an 18-year-old woman who plunged 400 feet to her death on the first day of her job at Yellowstone National Park when a rocky ledge overlooking a canyon gave way beneath her, officials said.
The woman, whose identity was being withheld pending notification of her family, arrived in the park on Thursday to begin a new job with a private concessions company in Yellowstone, park spokesman Dan Hottle said.
She and three others went hiking early that evening along the edge of a popular canyon called the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, on the North Rim trail, Montana's KAJ18 station reported.
The group had ventured onto an off-trail promontory at a spot called Inspiration Point when the accident happened.
At national parks, where are all the young people?
A member of the hiking party used a cellphone to alert park authorities. Yellowstone Park rangers said they responded to the 911 call around 6 p.m. local time (8 p.m. ET) on Thursday, KAJ18 reported.
A rescue team that was dispatched to the scene later reported spotting a badly mangled figure about 400 feet below the rim of the 1,500-foot-deep canyon, officials said.
Environmental woes imperil America's national parks
Rescuers concluded the woman could not have survived the fall. With nightfall advancing, search teams returned on Friday and retrieved the body in a three-hour helicopter operation.
Hottle said another member of the hiking party narrowly averted tumbling down the cliff.
"The 18-year-old was sitting on a ledge when the rock fell away. Someone was standing right behind her and, miraculously, didn't fall," he said.
According to Denver's ABC 7 News, friends of the woman said she was from Russia. This could not be immediately verified.
What's behind all the deaths at Yosemite?
Fatal falls are relatively rare at Yellowstone, accounting for fewer than a dozen deaths - among millions of visitors - over the past 30 years.
Reuters contributed to this report.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook
phoenix coyotes bruce irvin charlie st cloud celtics josh hamilton nba playoffs rosario dawson
Epson BrightLink 485Wi
The Epson BrightLink 485Wi ($2,200 street) is far more than just another ultra short throw interactive projector. Among its more interesting features are automatic calibration, the ability to use two interactive pens simultaneously, and the extension of the interactive whiteboard feature to work with other image sources besides computers. The result is a step ahead of the competition in many ways, and also an Editors' Choice.
Like the Editors' Choice Hitachi BZ-1 ($1.795, 4.5 stars), the 485Wi is LCD-based, which means it shares some of the same advantages and disadvantages. Under disadvantages, file the lack of 3D support. Although more and more DLP projectors today, including the Editors' Choice Optoma TW675UTi-3D ($1800 street, 4 stars), offer the feature, 3D isn't available yet in any LCD data projectors. If you need it, this pretty much rules out the 485Wi.
On the other hand, LCD projectors don't suffer from rainbow artifacts, with light areas breaking up into little red-green-blue rainbows. These artifacts result from the way single-chip DLP projectors produce color. Some people see them more easily than others, but if you don't need 3D, you can guarentee that no one in your audience will be annoyed by them simply by picking an LCD projector like the 485Wi.
The Basics, Portability, and Setup
The 485Wi offers WXGA (1280 by 800) native resolution and a 3100 lumen rating. As with most interactive ultra short throw projectors today, it's designed so you can mount it either horizontally or vertically, facing straight down, to create an interactive table top. According to Epson, the cooling system works just as well in either orientation.
Measuring 5.7 by 14.5 by 14.8 inches (HWD) and weighing 11.9 pounds, the projector can sit on a cart for room to room portability, but it's meant primarily for permanent installation. In fact, one of the reasons it costs more than most of its competition is that, unlike most, it comes with a mount. You even have the choice of buying it with either a wall mount or tabletop mount.
Except for the 485Wi's interactive feature, setup is absolutely standard. Connection options for images include an HDMI port for a computer or video source; two VGA ports for computers or component video; both S-video and composite video ports; and a USB A port?for a document camera, for sending images directly from a computer, or for reading files directly from a USB memory key. In addition, you can send images over a LAN connection.
Enhanced Interactive Features
One advantage that most DLP interactive projectors have over LCD projectors is that they use TI's approach to interactivity, which doesn't need to calibrate the pen and projector. The 485Wi not only needs calibration, it needs to recalibrate every time you move the projector, change resolution, or change the image size.
The good news is that calibration with the 485Wi is fully automatic, which is the next best thing to not needing it at all. Simply press two buttons on the remote and wait about 10 seconds while the projector puts a calibration image on screen, analyzes it, and recalibrates.
The automatic calibration is only one of the 485Wi's extras. Unlike most interactive projectors, it comes with two interactive pens rather than one?another additional piece of hardware that helps justify the price. More important, it lets you work with both pens at once, so two people can interact with the screen, adding notations simultaneously. This is particularly useful with an interactive tabletop, with people seated around the table.
Still another new feature, adding up to a hat trick, is the ability to interact with image sources besides computers. An annotation mode in firmware lets you mark up images from any source, including, for example, Blu-ray players and iOS devices (with plans to include Android devices shortly). You can even freeze a video image, so you can mark up the frame. The player will keep going, though, so when you unfreeze the image, you'll pick up at some later point in the video.
Big Picture, Short Distance, High Image Quality
The most impressive feature for any ultra short throw projector, of course, is the ultra short throw. For my tests, to get a 78-inch wide (93-inch diagonal) image at the native 16:10 aspect ratio, I had to put the projector all of 10 inches from the screen. According to Epson, the full range for image size is 60 to 100 inches diagonally, at 2.5 to 12.2 inches from the screen.
The 3100 lumen rating is a touch less than the Optoma TW675UTi-3D offers, at 3200 lumens. However, unlike the Optoma projector, the 485Wi lets you interact at full brightness, rather than using a separate interactive mode with a lower brightness. In my tests, the 93-inch diagonal image was easily bright enough to stand up to typical levels of ambient light in a conference room or classroom.
Image quality also counts as a strong point for the 485Wi, particularly for data images. The projector handled our standard suite of DisplayMate tests nicely, with vibrant, fully saturated color; excellent color balance with suitably neutral grays at all shades from black to white, and reasonably crisp, highly readable text even at small font sizes.
You won't mistake the video quality for something coming out of a home theater projector, but it's good for a data projector, and good enough to be watchable, thanks in large part to the lack of rainbow artifacts. The 485Wi did a particularly good job for a data projector with shadow detail (details based on shading in dark areas), and I saw little to no posterization (shading changing suddenly where it should change gradually) even in scenes than many data projectors tend to posterize.
With all of its strengths, the Epson BrightLink 485Wi is shoo-in for Editors' Choice, standing alongside the TW675UTi-3D and BZ-1. If you need 3D, the TW675UTi-3D is the only one of the three that offers it, making it the obvious pick. Similarly the BZ-1 is the most portable of the three, and it can save you some money if you don't want to pay for a mount or second pen that you don't need. But if you don't need 3D, and you're planning to mount the projector permanently, the Epson BrightLink 485Wi is a compelling pick, with a bright, high quality image plus innovative features, including automatic calibration and the extension of interactivity to any image source.
More Projector Reviews:
??? Epson BrightLink 485Wi
??? AAXA P3
??? Acer C120 Projector
??? InFocus IN1126
??? Casio XJ-H1750 Pro Series
?? more
?
chaka khan taylor swift safe and sound delilah nevis 2012 sports illustrated swimsuit same day flower delivery valentines day
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Up to RMB15000 for kindergargen teaching positions in Shenzhen ...
Position:Up to RMB15000 for kindergargen teaching positions in Shenzhen,Guangdong
Teaching condition:
1) Available start date: Sep,2012
2) Vacancy:2-3
3) School type:Kindergarten
4) Location:Futian,Shenzhen,Guangdong
5) Salary:12,000-15,000RMB/month
6) Work Load: From Monday to Friday at 7:30-4:30
7) Airfare: Negotiable
8)Free meals on weekdays
9) Working Visa: Yes
10)Medical insurance
11)Student?s age:2-6
12)Students per class :10-20
Requirements:
a) Native speaker+ 20-40 years old+Current in China
b) Bachelor degree or above+ teaching children experience+TEFL/TESOL certificate
If you are interested, Please send your CV/Resume, Passport, Education Diploma/Teaching certificate relevant, one recent photo copy and Reference Letter to: Ivy2003@eslengtop.com /eslengtop@yahoo.cn
Find more job openings, please visit at: Are you looking for an exciting
jerome simpson hand sanitizer obama on jimmy fallon google drive apple stock pilar sanders andrew young
Many GOP Texas merch items come from China
FORT WORTH, Texas, June 8 (UPI) -- Vendors at the Republican Party of Texas state convention said they were unaware many of their goods were made in other countries, including China.
Michael Franks of TexasGOPStore.com, a sponsor of the convention, said he did not realize many of the items he is selling at the convention in Fort Worth were made in China and Nicaragua, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Friday.
"I never looked at the label," Franks said of an Anvil-brand "I Palin" T-shirt made in Nicaragua.
Franks also sells the official pink convention T-shirt, which was made in Honduras.
Lisa Body of Aspen Design said she knew the 12 elephant and American flag brooches she sells were made in China, and many of her customers said they were not bothered.
"What difference does that make?" asked Harry Hingst, 63, a retired Lockheed Martin worker and a delegate from Comal County, who said he considers U.S. President Barack Obama a "socialist."
"It's one communist country versus another," he said.
dr. seuss dr seuss the temptations rush limbaugh sandra fluke green book some like it hot whale shark
Dose response effects of a caffeine-containing energy drink on muscle performance: a repeated measures design
Research article Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2012, 9:21?doi:10.1186/1550-2783-9-21
Published: 8 May 2012Abstract (provisional)
Background
Energy drinks have become the most used caffeine-containing beverages in the sport setting. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of two doses of a caffeine-containing energy drink on muscle performance during upper- and lower-body power-load tests.
Methods
In a randomized order, twelve active participants ingested 1 and 3 mg of caffeine per kg of body weight using a commercially available energy drink (Fure(R), ProEnergetics) or the same drink without caffeine (placebo; 0 mg/kg). After sixty minutes, resting metabolic rate, heart rate and blood pressure were determined. Then, half-squat and bench-press power production with loads from 10 to 100% of 1 repetition maximum was determined using a rotator encoder.
Results
In comparison to the placebo, the ingestion of the caffeinated drink increased mean arterial pressure (82 +/- 7 < 88 +/- 8 [almost equal to] 90 +/- 6 mmHg for 0 mg/kg, 1 mg/kg, 3 mg/kg of caffeine, respectively; P < 0.05) and heart rate (57 +/- 7 < 59 +/- 8 < 62 +/- 8 beats/min, respectively; P < 0.05) at rest in a dose response manner, though it did not affect resting metabolic rate. While the ingestion of 1 mg/kg of caffeine did not affect maximal power during the power-load tests with respect to the placebo, 3 mg/kg increased maximal power in the half-squat (2554 +/- 167 [almost equal to] 2549 +/- 161 < 2726 +/- 167 W, respectively; P < 0.05) and bench-press actions (349 +/- 34 [almost equal to] 358 +/- 35 < 375 +/- 33 W, respectively; P < 0.05).
Conclusions
A caffeine dose of at least 3 mg/kg in the form of an energy drink is necessary to significantly improve half-squat and bench-press maximal muscle power.
super pac dre kirkpatrick mls superdraft school cancellations bald barbie peoples choice awards deplorable
Day 4 on the Trans-Canada, Port aux Basques, NF
Trans-Canada distance: 921 km
Actual distance driven: 1,224 km
Lloyd and Audrey Adams
THEN: Lloyd Adams is ?on the light side of 77,? and when I meet him, he and Audrey are celebrating their 48th wedding anniversary. But before they married, Lloyd spent years in the bush, surveying the future Trans-Canada Highway across Newfoundland.
?I got the job straight from school and stayed for 13, 14 years,? he says. ?I learned everything on the job. Started as an engineer?s assistant, holding the tape, then worked my way up to using the instruments and plotting the road. We took it for granted back then and it was just a job, dealing with the blackflies, drinking water out of a boghole.?
In 1955, Lloyd Adams was an engineer's assistant
He pauses, and then he says: ?We didn?t realize it at the time, but we really were pioneers.?
There was no complete road across Newfoundland when he began in the mid-?50s. From Clarenville to Gambo, cars had to be carried by train, on the rail-car ferry. Lloyd would trek into the bush with a team of half-a-dozen surveyors for weeks at a time, hauling their own supplies and building their own camps. When they?d surveyed five kilometres of potential road, they?d pull up the camp and move it the five km to the start of the next leg, and begin again.
At least they had their own cook, and he didn?t have to do the heavy work ? the clearing of the survey lines was done by another team of six men, equipped only with axes.
?It was tough land to work on,? he remembers. ?You?d get to a pond and the construction crew would have to drain it and fill it all in, or to a rock and have to blow through it. These days, you don?t even notice when you?re speeding past.?
He pauses again, and then: ?Now we have a four-lane highway and it only takes 45 minutes to get to Wal-Mart. I guess that?s progress.?
NOW: There are two words that describe today: Moose, and monsoon. Not enough of one and too much of the other.
You want to know what I think of moose, and the province?s attempts to prevent cars colliding into them? Watch this video.
Rain, rain and more rain
And as for the rain, the drive from Grand Falls was just a slog along a soaking wet, spray-filled road. Any scenery worth seeing was hidden behind a wall of water, or of cloud, until I got to the west coast. The Trans-Canada Highway here is a slippery road, too: more often than not, there were two channels of rain water where the asphalt has been depressed into shallow tracks by years of vehicles driving the same point in the lane.
Where there was standing water, which was frequent, the wide and sporty tires of the Camaro slid from side to side, jerking the car. Wider tires mean there?s less weight concentrated on the same area of rubber than regular tires, which does not make for a relaxing drive. I don?t really want to be calling the CAA for a tow truck out of the ditch in my first week on the road ? give me moose any day.
SOMETHING INTERESTING? How do you market the unmarketable? Somebody at Gale?s Septic Pumping north of Port aux Basques found a way.
Yes, they really are septic tanks
With a captive audience driving past all day long, these 1,000-gallon septic tanks are lined up beside the road to greet drivers.
And no, I didn?t check if they were empty.
fox 4 vs fashion show 2011 victoria secret fashion show brian williams patrice o neal patrice o neal wayne gretzky
Virgin Mobile gets iPhone for $549, $30 per month
NEW YORK (AP) - Virgin Mobile USA, one of Sprint's brands for prepaid, no-contract phone service, said Thursday it will start selling the iPhone on June 29, charging $549 for a basic model.
The high price of the phone comes with an upside: service will start at $30 per month.
That means the phone, plus two years of service, will cost $1,269, excluding taxes. That's nearly $800 less than a subscriber would pay for the same phone, an iPhone 4 with 8 gigabytes of memory, if buying it under the Sprint Nextel Corp. brand. Sprint charges $100 for the phone and $80 per month for service, excluding taxes.
The iPhone has until recently been restricted to contract-based plans. Now, the floodgates appear open for the phone to enter the prepaid, no-contract market, which is aimed at people with low incomes and poor credit. However, the high initial cost of the phone is likely to be an obstacle. Virgin Mobile sells other smartphones for as little as $80.
Last week, Leap Wireless International Inc., the parent of the Cricket prepaid service, said it would start selling the phone on June 22, starting at $400 and $55 per month. Leap's CEO said the phone would likely account for about 10 percent of the phones it sells over the next few years.
For Apple Inc., the maker of the phone, expanding sales to the no-contract segment means a chance to reach buyers who don't have the credit for contract-based plans, or don't want to be tied down with contracts. The number of people on contract-based plans has plateaued, and actually contracted for the first time in the first quarter of this year. Meanwhile, the number of people on no-contract plans is still growing.
In addition to the iPhone 4, Virgin Mobile USA will sell the iPhone 4S, the model launched last year, for $649 with 16 gigabytes of memory.
Virgin Mobile's cheapest plan cost $35 per month, with a $5 discount possible for buyers who set up automatic monthly payment with a credit card, debit card or PayPal account. It provides 300 minutes of calling per month and unlimited texting. Data usage is also "unlimited," but is slowed drastically after the customer has used 2.5 gigabytes since the start of the billing cycle. IPhones with "Sprint" service have true unlimited data.
Virgin Mobile just introduced its first "4G" phone, the $300 HTC Evo V 4G, which can use Clearwire Corp.'s data network in addition to Sprint's. The iPhone, on the other hand, is limited to Sprint's "3G," or third-generation network, which is slower than those of the big iPhone sellers: AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless.
Sprint started selling the iPhone last fall, after its two bigger competitors. Sprint said the iPhones it buys from Apple for Virgin Mobile will count toward its commitment to buy $15.5 billion worth of phones over three years. That's a big and risky undertaking for Sprint, which is in a precarious financial position. The company also said it doesn't expect Virgin Mobile's iPhone sales to materially affect its 2012 operating income before depreciation and amortization.
Sprint shares rose 7 cents to $2.79 in early trading.
Sprint, which is based Overland Park, Kan., doesn't say how many subscribers Virgin Mobile has. Sprint over all has 15.3 million subscribers on no-contract plans, under the Virgin, Boost and Assurance Wireless brands. It has 32.8 million subscribers on Sprint and Nextel contract-based plans.
buenos aires train crash presidential debate pga tour argentina train crash nancy pelosi nancy pelosi gop debate
Jobs, economy on graduates minds
');
Nevada Union High School English teacher Mike Cartan, right, cooks hot dogs on the grill Thursday afternoon at Scotts Flat Lake for some of the school's graduating seniors at a year-end picnic.
Photo for The Union John Hart
While a throng of students accept their high school diplomas at both Nevada Union and Bear River high schools in Grass Valley every year, not every gr...
new ipad solar flare joseph kony 2012 arian foster dennis kucinich apple ipad kony
Monday, June 4, 2012
Syrian leader likens bloody crackdown to surgery
Armed Free Syrian Army soldiers ride a motorcycle on the outskirts of Idlib, Syria, Sunday, June 3, 2011. Free Syrian Army soldiers are determined to bring down the regime by force of arms, targeting military checkpoints and other government sites. A U.N. observer team with nearly 300 members has done little to quell the bloodshed. (AP Photo)
Armed Free Syrian Army soldiers ride a motorcycle on the outskirts of Idlib, Syria, Sunday, June 3, 2011. Free Syrian Army soldiers are determined to bring down the regime by force of arms, targeting military checkpoints and other government sites. A U.N. observer team with nearly 300 members has done little to quell the bloodshed. (AP Photo)
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian President Bashar Assad, as he delivers a speech at the parliament in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, June 3, 2012. The president's first comments on the massacre expressed horror over the deaths of more than 100 people, nearly half of them children. U.N. investigators say there are strong suspicions that pro-government gunmen carried out the killings, but Assad denied that. (AP Photo/SANA)
An armed Free Syrian Army solider, left, with the colors of the Syrian revolutionary flag painted on his weapon, stands guard at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Idlib, Syria, Sunday, June 3, 2011. Free Syrian Army soldiers are determined to bring down the regime by force of arms, targeting military checkpoints and other government sites. A U.N. observer team with nearly 300 members has done little to quell the bloodshed. (AP Photo)
An armed Free Syrian Army solider stands guard at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Idlib, Syria, Sunday, June 3, 2011. Free Syrian Army soldiers are determined to bring down the regime by force of arms, targeting military checkpoints and other government sites. A U.N. observer team with nearly 300 members has done little to quell the bloodshed. (AP Photo)
BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian President Bashar Assad defended his government's crackdown on opponents Sunday, saying a doctor performing messy emergency surgery does not have blood on his hands if he is trying to save a patient.
In his first speech since January, Assad appeared unmoved by scathing international criticism of his ferocious response to the 15-month-old revolt against his rule, which has killed up to 13,000 people, according to activist groups. He also denied responsibility for last week's Houla massacre of more than 100 people, saying not even "monsters" would carry out such an ugly crime.
He said terrorists have pushed his country into war.
"When a surgeon in an operating room ... cuts and cleans and amputates, and the wound bleeds, do we say to him your hands are stained with blood?" Assad said in a televised speech to parliament. "Or do we thank him for saving the patient?"
Assad insisted the revolt was the work of foreign-backed extremists ? not reformers seeking change.
Although the country has faced widespread international condemnation since Syrian troops unleashed a relentless crackdown on protesters last year, a massacre last week in the central region of Houla has brought fresh urgency to solving the crisis.
The opposition and the government have exchanged accusations over the Houla killings, each blaming the other for the house-to-house killings of more than 100 people, many of them small children. U.N. investigators have said there are strong suspicions that pro-regime gunmen are responsible for at least some of the killings.
Assad denied his forces had anything to do with Houla.
"Not even monsters would carry out (the crimes) that we have seen, especially the Houla massacre. ... There are no Arabic or even human words to describe it," he said in his first public comments about the mass killing.
Assad did acknowledge the toll the crisis has taken on the country, suggesting all the blood that has been spilled is necessary to root out the forces working to drive him from power.
"Today we are defending a cause and a country," he said. "We do not do this because we like blood. A battle has been forced on us, and the result is this bloodshed that we are seeing."
Members of the Syrian opposition brushed off his comments as meaningless.
"It is a desperate and silly speech that does not merit a response," said Adib Shishakly, a Saudi-based member of Syria's main opposition group, the Syrian National Council. "He didn't offer anything to the Syrian people during the 70 minutes he spoke."
Shishakly, the grandson of a former president of Syria, described Assad's statements on the Houla massacre as "lies to justify the killings because of the immense international pressure on his regime."
The U.S. has taken advantage of the global outrage over Houla to reach out to Syria's most important ally and protector, Russia, to join a coordinated effort to resolve the deadly conflict. Russia has provided a layer of protection for Damascus, refusing to support any move that could lead to foreign intervention in Syria.
A Russian Foreign Ministry statement issued Sunday said Russia was awaiting the results of the investigation into the massacre at Houla and was disturbed that some countries went ahead and cast blame.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday pressed Russia to join international efforts for a political transition in Syria that would see Assad driven from power, and suggested greater flexibility could come from a previous recalcitrant Moscow.
America's top diplomat told reporters in Sweden that she made clear in a telephone conversation this weekend with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Moscow must do its part to help Syria turn the page after four decades under the Assad family control.
"My message to the foreign minister was very simple and straightforward," Clinton said. "We all have to intensify our efforts to achieve a political transition and Russia has to be at the table helping that to occur."
Although Assad's words reflected many of the same general points of his previous speeches ? blaming terrorists and extremists, vowing to protect national security ? his comments on Houla were widely anticipated.
"If we don't feel the pain that squeezes our hearts, as I felt it, for the cruel scenes ? especially the children ? then we are not human beings," Assad said.
Syria's uprising began with mostly peaceful protests, but a brutal government crackdown with tanks, machine guns and snipers led many in the opposition to take up arms. Now, the conflict has morphed into an armed insurgency.
The violence has grown increasingly chaotic in recent months, and it is difficult to assign blame for much of the bloodshed as the country spirals toward civil war. The government restricts journalists from moving freely, making it nearly impossible to independently verify accounts from either side.
Assad, 46, who inherited power from his father in 2000, is still firmly in control after more than a year of warfare that has torn at the country's fabric and threatened to undermine stability in the Middle East.
A cease-fire plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan is violated by both sides every day, but Western leaders continue to pin their hopes on diplomatic pressure, with the U.S. and others unwilling to get deeply involved in another Arab nation in turmoil ? particularly one as unpredictable as Syria.
The rebel Free Syrian Army is determined to bring down the regime by force of arms, targeting military checkpoints and other government sites. A U.N. observer team with nearly 300 members has done little to quell the bloodshed.
Al-Qaida-style suicide bombings have become increasingly common in Syria, and Western officials say there is little doubt that Islamist extremists, some associated with the terror network, have made inroads in Syria as instability has spread.
Fears also have risen that the violence could spread and provoke a regional conflagration. Syria's regional ties make its conflict among the most explosive of the Arab Spring. The regime has alliances with powerful forces including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Shiite powerhouse Iran.
Already, clashes have broken out between pro- and anti-Syrian groups in northern Lebanon, with at least eight people killed late Friday and early Saturday, Lebanese security officials said.
In Sunday's speech, Assad said his opponents have ignored his moves toward reform, including a referendum on a new constitution and recent parliamentary elections. He suggested this meant that the call for democracy was not the driving force of the revolt.
"We will not be lenient. We will be forgiving only for those who renounce terrorism," he said.
Assad has acknowledged there are genuine calls for reform, although the opposition says he has offered only cosmetic changes that do little to change a culture where any whisper of dissent could lead to arrest and torture.
The president said the doors of Damascus were open for dialogue with the opposition ? a key component of Annan's peace plan ? as long as the parties have no foreign agendas or involvement with terrorism.
(This version CORRECTS Corrects to removes quote marks from Russia statement)
Associated Presswestminster dog show 2012 words with friends words with friends phlebotomy survivor dog show best in show
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)