SANAA, Yemen?? Yemen scheduled early presidential elections for early next year on Saturday in line with a power-sharing deal aimed at ending a nine-month political crisis, according to the country's official news agency.
The agreement would make President Ali Abdullah Saleh the fourth dictator pushed from power this year by the Arab Spring uprisings, although it has been rejected by many protesters because it would grant the reviled leader immunity from prosecution and does not include far-reaching political changes like those brought about by the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
The U.S.-backed Gulf Arab proposal signed Wednesday in the Saudi capital Riyadh calls for Saleh to pass power to his deputy within 30 days, after a new government sworn in by the vice president passes a law protecting Saleh and his associates from prosecution. Presidential elections also were to be held within 90 days, well ahead of the original date in 2013.
It came after months of resistance by the leader of 33 years despite massive protests calling for him to step down. Saleh had agreed to sign the deal at least three previous times only to back out at the last minute.
Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi said Saturday that the vote will be held on Feb. 21 and no party has the right to annul or change the decree, SABA reported. He made the announcement after Saleh gave him "the constitutional authorities to carry out dialogue with the parties that signed the Gulf initiative."
While it was welcomed by the U.S., which fears instability in the country that's home to one of the world's most active al-Qaida branches, the agreement has failed to end the mass protests that have rocked Sanaa and other cities since February.
Thousands took to the streets on Saturday to demand that Saleh face trial for allegations of corruption and the killing of hundreds of protesters as his security forces brutally tried to end the uprising against him.
The deal doesn't explicitly ban Saleh from the country's political life ? raising fears he could continue to play a political role.
Violence also continued, with Yemeni warplanes killing 80 anti-government tribesmen who overran part of a military camp in the Arhab region north of the capital.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said that warplanes and artillery had pounded the armed tribesmen for the past two days.
The number of deaths was not confirmed. But a soldier from Yemen's 63rd Brigade who fled the camp said tribesmen had overrun it several days ago. He spoke by telephone from Arhab, asking not to be identified for fear of government reprisal. The soldier said the tribesmen killed about 20 soldiers.
___
Associated Press writer Maamoun Youssef contributed to this report from Cairo.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45443968/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
999 plan the village detroit weather detroit weather imessage imessage sukkot
ScienceDaily (Nov. 24, 2011) ? Researchers from the University of York have produced the first clear evidence that textiles made by the indigenous population of the Pacific coast of North America contained dog hair.
In recent years, scientists have hotly debated whether textiles such as blankets and robes made by the skilful Coast Salish weavers before contact with Europeans were made of dog hair as oral histories have claimed.
Coast Salish oral tradition refers to a special dog which was bred locally until the mid 19th century for its woolly hair or fleece for use in the textile industry.
Using highly sensitive equipment at the University's Centre for Excellence in Mass Spectrometry, York researchers from BioArCh (Departments of Biology, Archaeology and Chemistry) analysed the protein composition of 11 textiles in different locations, representing 25 samples in total.
The samples were taken from artefacts in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian collections and included blankets, a sash and a robe of fur. Some of the textiles were collected during the American expeditions to the West Coast, including the Lewis and Clark (1803-1806) and Wilkes (1838-1842) expeditions. The samples dated mainly from early to mid 19th century.
Researchers found evidence of dog hair in the robe of fur and six of the woven textiles, primarily in a blend with goat hair.
However, the results published in the journal Antiquity, show there is no real proof of a preference for dog hair in high status fabrics and the researchers did not find any textiles made entirely of dog hair. Instead, researchers conclude that dog hair appears to have been used to supplement mountain goat hair, possibly as a bulking material.
Surprisingly too, the results also indicate that commercial sheep wool was also incorporated into textiles in the 19th century. Previous investigations had implied that sheep wool was not used in Salish weaving.
The research was led by Dr Caroline Solazzo, a Marie Curie Research Fellow from York's Department of Archaeology, and a former Postdoctoral Fellow at the Museum Conservation Institute at the Smithsonian Institution.
Dr Solazzo said: "Dogs have a long history of interaction with humans, from companionship to guarding and hunting; but raising dogs for fibre production was a unique cultural adaptation in the Pacific Northwest. It is perhaps the unusual strategy that has led some to doubt the use of dog wool.
"We found dog hair in all textiles produced before 1862, but it was absent from blankets woven in the late 19th century to early 20th century. Noticeably, dog hair is absent from all plain twill-woven ceremonial-type blankets, indicating a strong preference for mountain goat hair, in both aesthetic and technical aspects."
Bio-archaeologist Professor Matthew Collins, from York's Department of Archaeology, said: "Protein mass spectrometry is a useful new tool for the study of textiles, and indeed cultural artefacts composed of proteins, such as silk, wool, ivory, leather, bone and parchment, in which the original source of production is difficult to identify.
"Despite the minute quantities of fibres used, the analytical sensitivity of the instrumentation at York was able to reveal the use of dog hair in Salish weaving."
The Coast Salish peoples are indigenous to the Pacific Northwest coastal areas of northern Washington and southern British Columbia, and are particularly notable for their large, finely woven blankets. In pre-contact times, the blankets were important items and their gift and distribution were present in all aspects of social life. As well as having a functional use, they were important in ceremonies such as marriages and funerals.
Co-author Susan Heald, Senior Textile Conservator, from the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, said: "Salish weaving is undergoing a resurgence. With this revival it is crucial to have the use of dog hair in older blankets confirmed.
"The research at York has finally provided confirmation for the Coast Salish oral history of the use of dog hair. It appears that dog hair mixed with goat wool was used in every day textiles, with goat hair alone being used in ceremonial textiles."
The existence of a woolly dog is supported by historic accounts of 18th century European explorers. The dogs were reported to be corralled on small islands off the coast to prevent inter-breeding with short-haired village dogs. The dog disappeared less than 100 years after the first contact with Europeans.
Dr Solazzo said: "Based on our results, the description of textiles in museum collections as 'dog hair blankets' should be reconsidered; in no case did we find a textile made solely of this fibre. It may have been the case that pure dog hair blankets were once more common, but considered of lower value and consumed in use and lost."
Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:
Other bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of York.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/xRwo9aTAsJc/111124150355.htm
occupy portland occupy portland the hunger games neil degrasse tyson neil degrasse tyson bears lions bears lions
TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? One of the most senior figures in Libya's outgoing government has denounced its leaders as an unelected elite, supported by "money, arms and PR," and warned that 90 percent of Libya is politically voiceless.
Outgoing acting Prime Minister Ali Tarhouni's comments were the strongest criticism to date by a senior politician of the country's new rulers, who led the rebellion that ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule and have been in charge since his fall.
The National Transitional Council (NTC) also had a say in Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib's provisional government line-up, which was announced on Tuesday and mandated to steer the country toward democracy.
"The voices that we see now are the voices of the elite, the voices of the NTC who are not elected and the voices of other people who are supported by the outside by money, arms and PR," Tarhouni said on Thursday, hours after a new cabinet was formed.
"It's about time we heard the true voices of the masses ... we need to start rebuilding this democratic constitutional movement," he told a news conference.
Tarhouni was in charge of the oil and finance portfolios in Libya's outgoing transitional government and briefly served as acting prime minister until Thursday, when a new cabinet was sworn in.
Having been a frontrunner for a post as finance minister in Keib's cabinet until the eleventh hour, Tarhouni said he had been asked to join but declined due to the challenges of the transitional period and because he wanted to speak freely.
"I see danger for the sovereignty of Libya. I see a threat for the wealth of the Libyan people," Tarhouni told reporters, without elaborating.
"I see the economic issues as a major challenge," he added.
"FAILED MISERABLY"
Tarhouni said that NTC had "failed miserably" in melding the myriad armed militias that still roam the country into an official national army.
Listing the many security and economic challenges that lie ahead for a nascent government as the country emerges from a bloody civil war, he said the safety of oil installations was a critical issue.
"My hope that the new government will take this issue seriously," he said.
However, Tarhouni repeatedly wished the new line up "success" and said "they should be given a chance."
On Tuesday, the NTC named a cabinet favoring appointees who will soothe rivalries between regional factions, but specific groups, including the Amazigh, or Berber, have boycotted the new government complaining of the lack of representation.
(Editing by Sophie Hares)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/wl_nm/us_libya
shia labeouf teleprompter ashley greene mukesh ambani mukesh ambani bob harper aapl
NARITA, Japan (Reuters) ? Former Olympus Corp CEO turned whistle-blower Michael Woodford touched down back in Tokyo on Wednesday for a meeting with investigators probing one of Japan's biggest accounting scandals and a showdown with the board that threw him out.
As speculation grew of possible links between shadowy payments by Olympus and organized crime, the 51-year-old Englishman landed with little fanfare at Tokyo's Narita airport, to be met by an assistant and a gaggle of about 30 reporters.
Woodford blew the whistle on accounting tricks at the camera and endoscope maker after his sacking a month ago. Olympus has since admitted to hiding hundreds of millions in losses and to using merger and acquisition payments to aid the cover-up.
He said Tokyo police were best able to get to the truth. Each suspicious M&A payment should be looked at "forensically," he said.
Woodford also said Olympus needed new management but hoped the 92-year-old firm would be allowed to remain a listed company.
"The metropolitan police to me is the one that probably has the capability to investigate this in the right way," a relaxed Woodford told reporters.
He has returned to Japan for the first time since his sacking on October 14. He is due to meet prosecutors, regulators and police investigating the scandal on Thursday.
On Friday, Woodford will also attend his first meeting of the board since it convened to oust him. Still a director of the firm despite his sacking as CEO, Woodford had refused to return to Japan earlier, voicing safety concerns.
"AT RISK"
There was no sign of a security presence when he landed on Wednesday.
"I was at risk because we didn't know who received the money. We still don't," Woodford said, referring to the string of unusual M&A payments now under investigation.
"I hope my colleagues can see that the easiest thing (for me) would have been ... have a nice quiet life and go on a yacht around the Mediterranean. But I have gone through hell and back," the tanned Briton said.
Woodford's arrival back in Japan was as disarmingly low-key as his exit from the company for which he had worked for 31 years. When he was sacked, he left on an upmarket bus after being asked to hand over his credit cards and computers.
Speculation of organized crime links has swirled around the Olympus scandal. The firm said on Monday a third-party panel it set up to investigate the matter had, so far, found no evidence that organized crime syndicates or "yakuza" gangsters were involved in the M&A payments.
The payments included a massive $687 million advisory fee paid mostly to an obscure Cayman Islands firm.
The panel is due to report its findings in early December.
Woodford, who acknowledges he can be "loud-mouthed" and "strong-headed," has called for a thorough investigation of the transactions and for a clean sweep of top management.
But he says Olympus shares should not be delisted, in part to help ensure full disclosure of information.
"Be it with me or without me, Olympus needs new management. I ask my fellow board members to have the dignity to accept the game is up," he said before being driven away toward Tokyo in a black, chauffeur-driven car.
Olympus has lost nearly two-thirds of its market value since Woodford publicly questioned a series of strange deals.
The company initially denied any wrongdoing but later admitted to hiding investment losses from investors since the 1990s and to using part of $1.3 billion in M&A payments made over the past five years to help in the concealment.
The company, also being probed by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Britain's Serious Fraud Office, risks being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange over the scandal. This would effectively cut it off from equity capital markets and could put it under pressure to sell core businesses.
It is not yet clear if the architect of Woodford's ouster, former chairman and president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who also remains a director, will attend the Friday board meeting.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly; Writing by Edmund Klamann and Paul Tait; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Nick Macfie)
hope solo dancing with the stars hope solo dancing with the stars jack wagner matt jones snow white and the huntsman trailer snow white and the huntsman trailer sexiest man alive
WASHINGTON ? Count your blessings this Thanksgiving. It's good for you.
While it seems pretty obvious that gratitude is a positive emotion, psychologists for decades rarely delved into the science of giving thanks. But in the last several years they have, learning in many experiments that it is one of humanity's most powerful emotions. It makes you happier and can change your attitude about life, like an emotional reset button.
Especially in hard times, like these.
Beyond proving that being grateful helps you, psychologists also are trying to figure out the brain chemistry behind gratitude and the best ways of showing it.
"Oprah was right," said University of Miami psychology professor Michael McCullough, who has studied people who are asked to be regularly thankful. "When you are stopping and counting your blessings, you are sort of hijacking your emotional system."
And he means hijacking it from out of a funk into a good place. A very good place. Research by McCullough and others finds that giving thanks is a potent emotion that feeds on itself, almost the equivalent of being victorious. It could be called a vicious circle, but it's anything but vicious.
He said psychologists used to underestimate the strength of simple gratitude: "It does make people happier ... It's that incredible feeling."
One of the reasons why gratitude works so well is that it connects us with others, McCullough said. That's why when you give thanks it should be more heartfelt and personal instead of a terse thank you note for a gift or a hastily run-through grace before dinner, psychologists say.
Chicago area psychologist and self-help book author Maryann Troiani said she starts getting clients on gratitude gradually, sometimes just by limiting their complaints to two whines a session. Then she eventually gets them to log good things that happened to them in gratitude journals: "Gratitude really changes your attitude and your outlook on life."
Gratitude journals or diaries, in which people list weekly or nightly what they are thankful for, are becoming regular therapy tools.
And in those journals, it is important to focus more on the people you are grateful for, said Robert Emmons, a psychology professor at the University of California, Davis. Concentrate on what life would be without the good things ? especially people such as spouses ? in your life and how you are grateful they are there, he said.
Grateful people "feel more alert, alive, interested, enthusiastic. They also feel more connected to others," said Emmons, who has written two books on the science of gratitude and often studies the effects of those gratitude diaries.
"Gratitude also serves as a stress buffer," Emmons said in an e-mail interview. "Grateful people are less likely to experience envy, anger, resentment, regret and other unpleasant states that produce stress."
Scientists are not just looking at the emotions behind gratitude but the nuts-and-bolts physiology as well.
Preliminary theories look at the brain chemistry and hormones in the blood and neurotransmitters in the brain that are connected to feelings of gratitude, Emmons said. And the left prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is also associated with positive emotions like love and compassion, seems to be a key spot, especially in Buddhist monks, Emmons said.
However it works in the brain, Emmons said there is little doubt that it works.
Emmons, who has conducted several studies on people from ages 12 to 80, including those with neuromuscular disease, asked volunteers to keep daily or weekly gratitude diaries. Another group listed hassles, and others just recorded random events. He noticed a significant and consistent difference. About three-quarters of the people studied who regularly counted their blessings scored higher in happiness tests and some even showed improvements in amounts of sleep and exercise.
Christopher Peterson of the University of Michigan studied different gratitude methods and found the biggest immediate improvement in happiness scores was among people who were given one week to write and deliver in person a letter of gratitude to someone who had been especially kind to them, but was never thanked. That emotional health boost was large, but it didn't last over the weeks and months to come.
Peterson also asked people to write down nightly three things that went well that day and why that went well. That took longer to show any difference in happiness scores over control groups, but after one month the results were significantly better and they stayed better through six months.
Peterson said it worked so well that he is adopted it in his daily life, writing from-the-heart thank you notes, logging his feelings of gratitude: "It was very beneficial for me. I was much more cheerful."
At the University of North Carolina, Sara Algoe studied the interaction between cancer patients and their support group, especially when acts of gratitude were made. Like Peterson, she saw the effects last well over a month and she saw the feedback cycle that McCullough described.
"It must be really powerful," Algoe said.
It has to be potent to combat gloom many may be feeling in such uncertain times.
There have been many Thanksgivings throughout history that might challenge society's ability to be grateful. The first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims came after about half of the Plymouth colony died in the first year. Thanksgiving became a national holiday in the United States when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it in 1863 during the Civil War, the deadliest war the country has ever known. And the holiday moved to the fourth Thursday in November during the tail end of the Great Depression.
Emmons actually encourages people to "think of your worst moments, your sorrows, your losses, your sadness and then remember that here you are, able to remember them. You got through the worst day of your life ... remember the bad things, then look to see where you are."
That grace amid difficulty motif may make this Thanksgiving especially meaningful, McCullough said.
"In order to be grateful for something, we have to remember that something good happened," Peterson said. "It's important to remind ourselves that the world doesn't always suck."
___
Online:
Robert Emmons: http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/labs/emmons/PWT/index.cfm
National Association of School Psychologists' tips on fostering gratitude in children: http://bit.ly/rHlqCz
big east peru earthquake peru earthquake big 12 last minute halloween costumes rum diary klipsch image s4
An effigy of Barack Obama was burned by members of a Conservative party college student association in Scotland, after its committee chose the U.S. president over the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, a student official told msnbc.com.
Only on msnbc.com
The incident took place on a beach in St. Andrews on Friday as part of a tradition by the University of St. Andrews Conservative Association that has seen effigies of former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown burned and former South African President Nelson Mandela hung among others.
A source told msnbc.com that a number of the committee members were Americans who support the Republican party.
St. Andrews University, which was founded in 1413 and says it is the third oldest university in the English-speaking world, said it planned to speak to the Conservative group about the "very understandable concerns" over the incident.
In a telephone interview, Patrick O'Hare, a student official, said the Students' Representative Council had voted by 13 to 2 Tuesday night in favor of a motion that burning effigies of public figures was not constructive.
O'Hare described the burning as "immature" and "potentially very offensive," particularly as the effigy was of "America's first black president."
Five candidates to burn
He said he had been told by a person in a position to know that a vote had been taken by the Conservative group's committee "as to who they would burn."
He told msnbc.com the identity of the source but provided the information on the basis that the person was not identified.
"There were five candidates including Gadhafi," O'Hare said. "It was decided upon ? perversely democratically ? that Obama was the one who was going to burn."
O'Hare is president of the Students' Association, of which the Conservative group is a member along with left-wing and other political societies.
St. Andrews University issued a brief comment in an email. "We are aware of reports of this incident and have asked to meet the society president to discuss the very understandable concerns which these reports have raised. Until that meeting has taken place, it would be inappropriate to make further comment," the statement said.
O'Hare's account appeared to contradict an unnamed person quoted by BBC News, who was allegedly present at the incident and who said members of the association were "surprised" that the Obama effigy had been put on the bonfire.
Marshall, the Conservative Association president, told the BBC that he was sorry the incident had happened.
"President Obama is an important ally to the British government. It was a stupid thing to do and we apologize for any offense caused," he said.
The Conservative Association's website was down Tuesday night, according to a university source. It was also down Wednesday morning.
It is unclear who was actually responsible for the burning of the effigy.
'Disgusting'
James Mills, former chairman of the university's Labour party student society, told the BBC that the burning was "disgraceful." Mills' effigy has been also burned in the past.
"I can't imagine any other student activists of a major political party would behave in this manner," Mills told the BBC.
"It's disgusting and I hope the Conservative Party and the prime minister completely come out and condemn this obscene act," he added. "The last thing a truly modern party should be doing is burning an effigy of anyone let alone the first black president of the USA, one of our closest allies."
John Park, a Scottish Labour party lawmaker, whose constituency includes the university, told the U.K.'s Press Association that the burning was "gravely offensive and way beyond a student prank."
"Thousands of young people yearn for the chance to study at such a prestigious institution, and they will be amazed to see that those who have been given that opportunity behave like this," he added.
"Burning an effigy of anyone is offensive, let alone the first black President of the United States. The overtones are deeply unpleasant," he said.
By msnbc.com.com's Ian Johnston.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45413573/ns/world_news-europe/
ufc 137 boston news matilda new jersey weather halloween movies halloween movies new york snow
?
?
BROCADE COMM SY (BRCD): Free Stock Analysis Report
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
Enter your E-mail address to subscribe to DailyMarkets.com for FREE
terrell owens carrie ann inaba california earthquake california earthquake jenna lyons jenna lyons stephen sondheim
Vivitar DVR 790HD puts 3D video recording in the palm of your hand for under $100 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink
Chip Chick, Gizmodo | 
Vivitar | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/22/vivitar-dvr-790hd-puts-3d-video-recording-in-the-palm-of-your-ha/
when will ios 5 be released when will ios 5 be released ipod nano watch ipod nano watch dancing with the stars elimination dancing with the stars elimination nexus prime
TOKYO ? Japan has banned shipments of rice grown near a tsunami-hit nuclear power plant for the first time after detecting radiation exceeding the legal limit.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Thursday that a sample of rice from a farm contained 630 becquerels of cesium per kilogram. Cesium is among the radioactive materials that leaked from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant after it was damaged by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Under Japanese regulations, rice with more than 500 becquerels of cesium per kilogram is not allowed to be consumed.
Officials have tested rice at hundreds of spots in Fukushima, and none had previously exceeded the limit. Fukushima only last month declared that rice grown in the prefecture was safe.
sprint chris tucker phoenix jones danielle chiesi walter payton oneiric oneiric
Each year as the holiday season nears, I notice an increase in the amount of letters I receive for my website writing project called, "The Things You Would Have Said." The holidays can bring up an overwhelming amount of emotions that can be hard to deal with, especially when you feel enveloped in heartache while everyone around you is full of joy. I read letters from people writing to lost loves, siblings who have died by accident, or parents who have passed from old age, all expressing their doubt in making it through the holidays without their loved ones around. They write, "Thanksgiving was your favorite holiday, you died just two days before" or "This is my first Christmas without you. I don't know how I'll smile when the kids come over for presents." It can be difficult to find the strength to keep family traditions alive, especially if the person who loved them so much is no longer around to share in the experience. My hope is that, by doing a few simple activities to include our loved ones' memory in the festivities, we can keep them close to our hearts and feel their embrace this holiday season.
Write a letter
It can often be useful to take a moment to sit down and write a letter to the person you've lost, expressing your fears about the upcoming season and how you are feeling in the present moment. It can be a letter of frustration and anger, or an honest articulation of how difficult times have been and how much they are missed. It will not only help get the feelings off your chest, but a connection is created when you write a letter to someone: it will make you feel closer to the person, as if they are reading your words and comforting you. You could even take a moment to write about memories you shared with them around this time of year, or about the plans for the family in the coming months. It's a way to include them in the process, making it feel like they are right there and part of it all.
Cook their favorite dish
A great way to make a lost loved one part of the holiday hoopla is to cook one of their favorite dishes. Did your brother love mashed sweet potatoes? Was your mom a fan of pumpkin pie, but only the pie filling and not the crust? By creating what they loved and acknowledging your reason for making it, your loved one can be included in the celebration. At dinner, you could even share with others about why you made the dish and recount a particular memory you had about the person eating it. Maybe they had a unique way of preparing it or pulled a prank on someone while serving the dish. It can bring a string of laughter to a potentially somber event.
Partake in a family tradition
Another way to remember a loved one is to carry out a tradition that the person enjoyed. Perhaps they always looked forward to going to the Christmas tree farm and drinking apple cider as you all picked out your favorite tree. Instead of going to the local grocery store tree lot this year, either because of fatigue or sorrow, I encourage you to go to that tree farm they loved and embrace the tradition. You might be surprised by how much you can feel them there, walking beside you as you search for that special tree. Even more, I bet they'd be happy you did it.
Volunteer at a charity they supported
There is no better way to honor the ones you've lost by donating your time to a cause they passionately believed in. As a way to continue their legacy, it will not only make you feel like you are connecting with your loved one on a deeper level, but you will be helping others in need. Whether it's serving food at a local homeless shelter or making holiday cards with cancer patients at the hospital, spend time with the people your loved one cared about. Volunteering also brings a sense of appreciation for what you have, and it can help lift your spirits when you know you are enriching the lives of others.
Keep a gratitude journal
An important way to remember the positive aspects of your life, especially when you are feeling lost and alone, is to keep a gratitude journal. Each day, write down two things that you are grateful for. It can be a person, a favorite place to visit, an emotion, an idea. When we start generating a list of things we appreciate in our lives, we can focus on the positives that we do have instead of the sadness we feel about the ones we've lost. You could even take a step further and write a note of gratitude to someone in your family or a close friend, and give it to him or her at the next get-together. Maybe they have been a great support for you during this hard time or they did something special for you to help you through it. When we can acknowledge the good in our lives and the valuable people around us, it can make the difficult times a little easier to manage.
To submit a letter this holiday season to "The Things You Would Have Said," please visit www.wouldhavesaid.com.
?
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jackie-hooper/remembering-loved-ones_b_1091369.html
steve jobs commencement speech sarah palin espn body issue ijustine visionary guy kawasaki jani lane
WASHINGTON ? A Democrat on a special deficit-cutting "supercommittee" Wednesday questioned whether Republicans are still interested in negotiating after the panel's top GOP member said Republicans have "gone as far as we feel we can go" on tax hikes.
A sense of deep pessimism has gripped the supercommittee, and judging from the limited public statement by panel members, a debt bargain could be out of reach.
"We need to find out whether our Republican colleagues want to continue to negotiate or whether they've drawn a hard line in the sand," said supercommittee Democrat Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. "The question is whether they've kind of said `take it or leave it.' "
Van Hollen made his comments after co-chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, told CNBC Tuesday evening that the bipartisan debt supercommittee is "somewhat stymied for the moment" because panel Democrats are insisting on tax increases of up to $1 trillion in exchange for cost curbs on rapidly spiraling benefit programs such as Medicare and Social Security.
The top Democrat on the deficit supercommittee, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, said Wednesday morning that it's a "critical day" for the panel but that Democrats "are not going to accept a plan that gives a tax break to the wealthiest and balance all of this incredible (deficit) challenge on the backs of middle class families.
While the supercommittee struggles, a bipartisan gaggle of lawmakers urged the panel to "go big" and far exceed the minimum $1.2 trillion deficit target set for the panel this summer when it was established by a hard-fought budget and debt limit pact between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Failure would trigger across-the-board spending cuts that especially alarm defense hawks.
"This group can do it. And they need to know, if they are bold, if they are brave, if they go big, we will stand with them, and the American people will stand with them," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D.
The deficit for the just-completed budget year was $1.3 trillion, requiring the government to borrow 36 cents for every dollar it spends.
Under current policies, the government could run deficits near the $1 trillion range through the end of the decade. Even a successful negotiation that produces $1.2 trillion in cuts will still leave a deficit crisis that requires painful choices by policymakers on taxes and benefits programs, budget experts agree.
Backbiting has intensified since an exchange of offers. The Democrats' most recent plan called for $2.3 trillion in deficit cuts, including a $1 trillion tax increase over the coming decade. Republicans countered with almost $300 billion in new tax revenues as part of a $1.5 trillion debt plan, an offer that even a top Democrat, Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, called a breakthrough.
"The Democrats won't put a plan on the table to solve the problem, and anything they do that even remotely addresses health care, even superficially, they're insisting on" a $1 trillion tax increase, Hensarling said. "It's not going to happen."
Democrats have signaled privately that they're willing to lower their demands on tax increases somewhat ? perhaps to $800 billion over a decade ? but there's no sign that Republicans could accept that bargain.
Boehner publicly blessed the GOP offer on taxes Tuesday, bucking opposition by some GOP presidential hopefuls and colleagues wary of violating a longstanding point of party orthodoxy. But there's restiveness on his conservative flank
The supercommittee has until a week from Wednesday to vote on any compromise, but several officials said that in reality, perhaps as little as 48 or 72 hours are available to the six Republicans and six Democrats.
While Boehner's voice is important, his endorsement does not mean all Republicans will follow him or that a deal is in sight. Republicans have been unified for two decades in opposition to higher taxes, while Democrats on the supercommittee insist on additional revenue before they will agree to cuts in benefit programs as part of a compromise.
Boehner said the plan, outlined a week ago to Democrats on the committee, was "a fair offer." Adding an overhaul of the federal tax code would generate economic growth, he said.
But Boehner's chief lieutenant, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. ? who pulled out of talks led by Vice President Joe Biden this summer over Democrats' tax demands ? has declined to endorse the GOP's $300 billion offer on taxes, even though it's been endorsed by conservative stalwarts like Hensarling and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.
The full committee hasn't met in several days, but various subgroups have been in near constant contact.
More than deficit reduction is at stake, one year into an era of divided government.
Democrats are hoping to add elements of President Barack Obama's jobs legislation to any deficit-cutting deal, including extensions of a Social Security payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits that are due to expire at the end of the year. But their proposal to use savings from shrinking war spending is opposed by some Republicans.
A comprehensive rewrite of farm programs may hang in the balance, too, and lawmakers also must pass legislation to ensure sufficient funds to reimburse doctors who treat Medicare patients.
The twin issues of taxes and benefit programs have long been stumbling blocks in budget negotiations.
In negotiations last summer, according to numerous officials, Obama and Boehner were considering sizable cuts to benefit programs as well as tax reform that would have raised as much as $800 billion in additional revenue. The talks ultimately failed.
Republican leaders still support the concept of swapping modest tax increases for a tax overhaul. And they say that's a good deal, especially since the Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of next year.
"It's important for us to, in my opinion, reform the tax code," Boehner said. "And we've got the highest business tax rate in the world. We've got a personal tax system that's so complicated it costs Americans about $500 billion a year to comply with the current tax code," he said.
Republican officials say the GOP offer envisions an overhaul that would drop the top tax rate on personal income to 28 percent from the current 35 percent and shave or eliminate some itemized deductions that are commonly used. The top corporate rate would fall also.
Despite Boehner's comments, GOP presidential contenders Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry said they were prepared to oppose a plan along the lines of the one under consideration. Another candidate, Mitt Romney, brushed aside a question on the subject.
flat tax flat tax divine bettie page harry caray northern lights maksim chmerkovskiy
Dan Little / HRL Laboratories
A new type of nickel-phosphorus lattice is so light it can sit atop a ball of dandelion fluff without disturbing it.
Alan Boyle writes
Researchers have created a new kind of metal that rates as the world's lightest material ? and just might show up in future batteries and shock absorbers.
The nickel-phosphorus "microlattice," which is described in this week's issue of the journal Science, is the stuff that gee-whiz is made of: It actually consists of 99.99 percent air. The other 0.01 percent is made up of interconnected hollow tubes with a wall thickness of 100 nanometers. That's 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.
To get technical about it, the density of the material is?0.9 milligrams per cubic centimeter. In comparison, the lightest sample of aerogel, the stuff that's been called "solid smoke," has a density of 1.1 mg/cc.
The microlattice is made through a process that's completely different from the "cooking" technique that gives rise to aerogel. The researchers start by setting up a matrix of polymer lattices, and then deposit thin films of nickel-phosphorus. When the polymer is etched away, tiny metal tubes are left behind in the shape of the lattice.
Aerogel is foamy stuff that makes a great insulator but chips off easily. In contrast, the highly ordered structure of the microlattice makes it strong and resilient.
"Modern buildings, exemplified by the Eiffel Tower or the Golden Gate Bridge, are incredibly light and weight-efficient by virtue of their architecture," William Carter, manager of the architected materials group at California-based HRL Laboratories, explained today in a news release. "We are revolutionizing lightweight materials by bringing this concept to the nano and micro scales."
Lorenzo Valdevit, a materials scientist at the University of California at Irvine, said materials actually get stronger when the scale is reduced to the nanometer level. "Combine this with the possibility of tailoring the architecture of the microlattice, and you have a unique cellular material," he said in a UC-Irvine news release.
The material is strong enough to bounce back after being compressed by 50 percent, yet light enough to sit on top of a fluffy dandelion without disturbing it, as shown in the photo above. The stuff's properties make it ideal for applications that involve soundproofing or shock absorption, and it could also lead to lighter battery electrodes. It's no wonder that the material was developed for the?Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (And yes, the developers have applied for a patent on the microlattice structure and formation process.)
Update for 10:15 p.m. ET: Valdevit provided a little more perspective on the "lightest material" claim in a follow-up phone call. "You might argue that it's a 'structure' rather than a 'material,'" he acknowledged. But the key?factor has to do with?how strong and resilient the microlattice is for its weight. That's what will determine how widely it's used.???
Science's Brandon Bryn narrates a video showing how an ultralight metallic microlattice recovers from compression. (Credit: HRL Laboratories / AAAS)
More material about materials science:
In addition to Carter and Valdevit, authors of "Ultralight Metallic Microlattices" include Tobias Schaedler, A.J. Jacobsen, A.E. Sorensen, J. Lian and J.R. Greer.
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or following the Cosmic Log Google+ page. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
?
Source: http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/17/8863013-scientists-create-lightweight-champ
ray lewis kim zolciak kim zolciak jerry sandusky interview white house shooting internet censorship sveum
LONDON (AP) ? Scotland Yard's cybercrime unit helped fend off an attack on the official website of Britain's royal wedding in April, the division's chief said Tuesday.
Det. Supt. Charlie McMurdie told a London cybersecurity conference that action was taken to safeguard the site, which received 15 million hits when Prince William married Kate Middleton on April 29.
McMurdie made the comments in passing at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank. Asked for more information by The Associated Press, she said her unit had "been called in" to deal with an attack.
She declined to go into any further detail, but a Scotland Yard spokesman asked about the case said a 16-year-old had been detained on Oct. 10 in relation to "a suspected attempt to encourage others to commit a distributed denial-of-service attack."
Such attacks work by bombarding websites with bogus traffic in an attempt to overwhelm them.
The spokesman said the teenager is out on bail and has yet to be charged. He spoke anonymously in line with force policy.
The royal wedding was a massive Internet event, with providers saying it may have been the most heavily live-streamed event ever. Many websites, including the BBC and YouTube's royal channel, occasionally struggled to cope under the strain of the traffic.
The official royal wedding website said that, at its peak, it was handling more than 2,000 requests a second.
___
Online:
Royal United Services Institute: http://www.rusi.org/
The Royal Wedding website: http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org/
Associated Presslauren alaina dallas news google tv cornel west marzieh vafamehr marzieh vafamehr lady liberty
We've already articulated our stance on the PROTECT IP, SOPA, E-PARASITE, or whatever you want to call it bill, which creates a dangerous precedent of blacklisting domains and concentrates power on rights-holders, and remains vague enough to be easily abused. Eric Schmidt has already spoken out against it, saying that Google would not comply with its restrictions. Today he upped the rhetoric a bit while speaking at MIT's Sloan School of Management. "The solutions are draconian. There's a bill that would require ISPs to remove URLs from the Web, which is also known as censorship last time I checked." By dropping the C-bomb, Schmidt may have committed to becoming one of, if not the, most high-profile opponents of the bill in the tech industry, a position that may cause some inconvenience later. Luckily, he's got the clout to back up his harsh words.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/HTz4A59GyNk/
aladdin weird al yankovic cowboys cowboys bling ring bling ring melissa mccarthy
There's no shortage of to-do managers and organizers on the web, but Sandglaz, a new webapp that combines the best things from a day planner and a calendar together into an easy-to-use webapp, really stands out. Adding to-dos, reordering them, and browsing your next actions are all easy operations that don't take a long tutorial to figure out. Sandglaz manages to be powerful and customizable without being difficult to use.
Regardless of the productivity system you use, Sandglaz has tools that work the way you work. If you're a GTD fan, the daily view shows you what you have on your plate right now, what your next actions are, and what you have to do later. If you're a fan of Covey's "four quadrant" approach to important and urgent to-dos, you'll appreciate the ability to organize your to-dos in groups called "grids" that show you your work in terms of what's urgent and important, what's important but not urgent, urgent but not important, or neither. If you'd rather just use Sandglaz as a day planner, you can do that as well with Sandglaz Infinity, the webapp's premium service, which lets you organize your to-dos by urgency and when they need to be done at the same time.
Once you have some to-dos added to Sandglaz, you can reorder them by dragging and dropping them, mark them complete by checking them, set due dates and add additional details that you need to complete the task, or even share them with someone else on your team right from the checklist screen.
Basic accounts at Sandglaz are free and allow you to create unlimited grids and to-dos and share your to-dos with as many people as you want. Sandglaz Infinity adds weekly grids, to-do tagging, priority support, and removes the ads. Infinity is free during beta so you can get a feel for all of Sandglaz's features, but when it launches it'll set you back $6/month if you want to continue using it.
Sandglaz
facebook changes man o war yankees red sox yankees red sox buffalo bills molly sims tony stewart
QUAKE CAUSE?: Oklahoma recently experienced its strongest earthquake ever and some suggest drilling for oil and gas may have played a role.
Image: ? iStockphoto.com / cstar55
The biggest earthquake ever recorded in Oklahoma struck on November 5, a magnitude 5.6 temblor that buckled a highway and ruptured water pipes. This quake is part of a skyrocketing rise in seismic activity the state has seen in the past three years, leading many to wonder?and worry?about its cause. Might the practice of fracking, a controversial method of drilling into rock for natural gas, be to blame?
The earthquake struck around 10 P.M. local time about 50 kilometers east of Oklahoma City, and was felt from Saint Louis to Dallas. Until then, the state's largest temblor was a magnitude 5.5 event near the town of El Reno in 1952.
Overall, only minor injuries and damage were reported after last weekend's earthquake. A magnitude 4.7 foreshock preceded the quake by about 20 hours, and dozens of aftershocks were detected as well. These all apparently happened on the well-mapped Wilzetta Fault. "It seems the east side of the fault moved a bit southward," says seismologist Randy Keller, director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS).
The recent uptick in the area's temblors has been dramatic. From 1972 to 2008 only two to six earthquakes were reported per year in Oklahoma, and were often too small for people to notice. However, in 2009 nearly 50 earthquakes were recorded (pdf), and that number more than doubled in 2010 to 1,047, with 103 powerful enough to be felt.
This unusual seismicity has led some to wonder about increased activity in the area related to fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, which uses millions of gallons of fluid to break apart rock and release natural gas. The practice generates a considerable amount of waste liquid, which is often disposed of by injecting it? into deep rock formations where it can lubricate faults. Hydraulic fracturing is common in Oklahoma, the nation's third-largest producer of natural gas, and has taken place there for decades (pdf). Now, with the discovery of natural gas deposits in other regions of the U.S., the extraction method is being used more widely and has raised concerns about its potential to contaminate drinking water.
Fracking has been linked to two minor earthquakes in northwest England, very likely by lubricating an already stressed fault zone and thus making it easier for the land to shift (pdf). A report in August (pdf) by seismologist Austin Holland at the OGS also suggested that a swarm of nearly 50 small quakes of magnitude 1.0 to 2.8 near the center of the state might have been triggered by nearby fracking.
Still, researchers say it seems unlikely that fracking had anything to do with last weekend's magnitude 5.6 quake. "There was a lot of deformation of the Earth here 300 million years ago that created huge geological structures in the subsurface that shift from time to time," Keller says. "We have an unstable situation here, and it's one reason why oil and gas is available here in the first place."
"I won't say that man's activity never ever caused the release of seismic stress, but hydro-fracks are such small things," Keller adds. "If we were talking a magnitude 1 or 2 earthquake, that'd be different, but it's awfully hard to imagine a hydro-frack being involved with one of this size. We also have to determine if there were any frack jobs going on there right now, but I don't think there were?it didn't happen in an area of particularly active oil and gas exploration."
As to whether the spike in earthquakes recently seen in the state might be due to fracking, "it is probably best not to attach much significance to perceived increases in seismic activity in Oklahoma?the occurrence of earthquakes anywhere is quite irregular," says seismologist Art McGarr with the U.S. Geological Survey. This surge in quakes might be a temporary statistical anomaly.
"It may be, however, that more earthquakes are being induced in Oklahoma because of an increase in disposal well operations and, indeed, research is going on now to investigate this possibility," McGarr says. The large amounts of fluid disposed of in this way can seep into cracks and lubricate already stressed faults, making it easier for them to slip and cause an earthquake." No answers yet, however."
Scientists had three or four seismographs positioned at the epicenter of the earthquake when it occurred, and another 25 to 30 will be deployed there now or soon to study aftershocks and locate the November 5 quake's origin more precisely. "In a few weeks or a month we may have a better idea of what might have caused this earthquake sequence?natural tectonic processes or industrial activities," McGarr adds.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=57aad76c42a81f96677e33818bd7301f
don lapre aladdin weird al yankovic cowboys cowboys bling ring bling ring
Shayne Lamas and husband Nik Richie welcomed their first child, a daughter named Press, at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, Calif.
"I feel blessed today. Press Dahl Lamas-Richie is the coolest baby in the history of female kind," Nik, who owns The Dirty (dot) com, says of his offspring.
"She doesn't even cry and she has the prettiest eyelashes."
Richie admits that he and Lamas were planning to welcome their baby on 11/11/11, but that nature almost got in the way, as Lamas went into labor Thursday.
"The delivery was intense," he says. "Shayne was in labor for over 10 hours. Contractions were a total nightmare." But happily, everything is just great now.
"Shayne is glowing and I am truly proud of her," gushes the new family man.
So are we. To think how far our girl has come since we first got to know her. Congrats to Shayne Lamas, the former Bachelor winner, and her hubby Nik.
Oh, and Press is seeking representation if you know any L.A. agents. Really.
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/11/shayne-lamas-welcomes-daughter-named-press/
tom bradley penn state grace potter grace potter ryan mathews the band perry faith hill cma awards 2011
TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran rejects Bahrain's allegations that a terror cell uncovered in the tiny island nation has links to the Shiite powerhouse's Revolutionary Guard, an Iranian deputy foreign minister said.
Bahrain's public prosecutor on Sunday alleged the cell planned attacks against high profile sites, such as the Saudi Embassy in the Bahraini capital Manama and a Gulf causeway linking Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
The cell purportedly had contact with Iran's Guard, according to a Bahrain News Agency report, which gave no further details to back up the allegations.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian said the claims were "baseless and fabricated" and urged the Bahraini government to focus instead on repairing the "deep schism" between its ruling Sunni monarchy and Shiite majority.
Abdollahian spoke to the Arabic Language al-Alam channel late on Sunday.
"We reject such deceptive allegations," he said. "We believe it is necessity to deal peacefully and democratically with legitimate demands voiced over the past months by the Bahraini people."
Bahrain's Sunni leaders have repeatedly accused Iran of encouraging Shiite-led protests that erupted in February in the kingdom, a charge Iran denies.
The Bahraini claim followed recent U.S. accusations that an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guard ? which is closely tied to Iran's ruling clerics ? was involved in a foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington. Iran has denied the American charges.
Bahrain's majority Shiites insist they have no political links to Iran. Bahrain's Sunni monarchy and its Gulf allies claim that Iran seeks to gain another foothold in the Arab world through unrest in the tiny strategic nation, which hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
The unrest in Bahrain has killed more than 35 people since it began nearly nine months ago, inspired by Arab uprisings elsewhere. Protesters say they are seeking greater rights and an end to the Sunni dynasty's hold on top political decisions. Bahrain's rulers have offered some compromises, such as expanding the powers of parliament, but not enough to satisfy the opposition.
The Iran-Bahrain tensions are not limited to politics.
On Saturday, Iran summoned Bahrain's envoy to Tehran to protest what it called mistreatment of Iranian football players and supporters following a 2014 World Cup qualifier in Manama.
Iran's official IRNA agency said security forces failed to confront some Bahraini supporters who threw water bottles and other objects at the Iranian players and supporters.
james arthur ray james arthur ray 20/20 maps directions josephine baker pumpkin patch troy polamalu
Suppose there's a vanishing species of animal you love. Its population is down to a scary few, the last survivors are hiding deep in the wilderness, and you want to protect them, save them from extinction.
And let's further suppose, that one day, you happen upon a small remnant, the last of these wild animals, and by sheer luck, one of them is healthy, strong, beautiful, a true survivor. What would you do? Cage it? Trap it? Let it go?
I'm going to tell you a story ? it's a true story, about William Temple Hornaday and the animal he loved, the American buffalo, but this tale is so improbable, so strange, I can't quite explain what happened. It makes no sense to me.
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Negative no. 74-12338 Here he is with his favorite, a little buffalo calf he called "Sandy", because of it's light colored hair. Back in the 1880s William Temple Hornaday was a champion conservationist. Conservation was a new idea back then, and in Washington, D.C., Hornaday was a noisy, fierce, field tested, eloquent defender of wild animals, especially, extra-especially, wild bison. They were his passion. With Teddy Roosevelt, he helped found the American Bison Society. He was also Chief Taxidermist at the National (or Smithsonian) Museum.
In December of 1886, Hornaday was out in Montana looking for buffalo skins to put on taxidermy models at his museum. He also wanted to see buffalo in the wild so he could sketch them in proper "natural" poses for his dioramas. But as he pushed deeper into the Montana wilderness, he saw no animals, "for the reason," he wrote, "that the buffalo are not there." As you can see from this pile of bison heads, the great northern herd, once numbered in millions, had all but vanished. They'd been hunted almost out of existence.
But he kept riding, kept looking, until one day, in December, off in an isolated canyon, he caught sight of a small group of buffalo clustered about a very, large bull. "This was a truly magnificent specimen in every respect," he wrote in his book The Extermination of the Buffalo, "much larger than any of the others." It weighed, Hornaday guessed, 1,600 pounds. It was strong, elegant, "His hair was in remarkably fine condition, being long, fine, thick, and well colored."
So what did Hornaday do? Having spotted this precious animal, he gave chase.
Buffalo can move fast: 35, 40 miles an hour; they can jump 6 feet vertically, and crash through thick brush, but Hornaday writes, "my horse carried me alongside my buffalo, and as he turned toward me I gave him a shot through the shoulder, breaking the fore leg and bringing him promptly to the ground."
He shot the bull. After hobbling this giant, Hornaday went off to assist in the shooting of a cow...
I then rode back to the old bull. When he saw me coming he got upon his feet and a short distance, but was easily overtaken. He then stood at bay, and halting within 30 yards of him I enjoyed the rare opportunity of studying a live bull buffalo of the largest size on foot on his native heath. I even made an outline sketch of him in my note-book. Having studied his form and outlines as much as was really necessary, I gave him a final shot through the lungs, which soon ended his career.
So he shot him. Then he drew him. Then he killed him. Then he shot the rest of the herd. "We killed very nearly all we saw," he wrote back to the Museum, "and I am confident there are not over thirty head remaining in Montana, all told. By this time next year the cowboys will have destroyed about all of this remnant. We got in our Exploration just in the nick of time, ..."
Why did he do it? How could he so matter-of-factly put an end to the life he wanted to preserve? Maybe he figured these animals were as good as gone, so before they went forever, he needed a memento to warn against future extinctions. He was, after all, a taxidermist. He knew how to make dead animals seem alive. Here he is, working on a tiger...
Enlarge Smithsonian Institution Archives, Negative no. NHB-3687 Smithsonian Institution Archives, Negative no. NHB-3687
So maybe he shot the last gorgeous specimen to remind Easterners in a very vivid way what a remarkable animal once roamed the American plains. And that, by the way, is where these buffalo ended up. Here they are, with the big bull, in a display case, joined by the little calf you saw in our earlier picture, who died at the museum of natural causes.
Enlarge Smithsonian Institution Archives, Negative no. MNH-4323 Smithsonian Institution Archives, Negative no. MNH-4323
If that was his purpose ? to create a frozen scene that would make buffalo look romantic and tragic ? I suppose it worked. The museum exhibit was a huge success.
Later on, Hornaday did create an exhibit of living buffalo at the Bronx zoo, and got the herd big enough to begin exporting back to the west. So he also pioneered the alternate, modern approach, where we take last living specimens, put them in a zoo where they become living fossils, keeping their DNA going in the hopes that one day we can reintroduce them into a world that no longer has their old habitat.
But Why?
But the question remains: Hornaday knew these animals in their wild state. He knew what they looked like snorting through the plains in thundering mobs, raising dust. So why, when he came upon a grand specimen, maybe the last of its kind, why did he look at it and think only, "Ah, this will be a great sculpture"? That's what I can't figure out. Why isn't a thing with breath, with temper, with muscle, with menace, better than that thing frozen in a glass case?
I'm trying to get into his head. What was he thinking?
If you wish to see Hornaday's buffalo, they are still on exhibit, but no longer in Washington. They are all back in Montana at the Montana Agricultural Center and Museum. Hornaday's letters about executing the buffalo are online, and, while we're on the subject of conservationists hunting remnant buffalo, curiously, there's a scene in Edmund Morris' 1979 masterpiece, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, that almost exactly mimics Hornaday's story. It's happened in South Dakota in 1883, and this is TR talking:
There below me, not fifty yards off, was a great bull bison. He was walking along, grazing as he walked. His glossy fall coat was in fine trim and shone in the rays of the sun, while his pride of bearing showed him to be in the lusty vigor of his prime. As I rose above the crest of the hill, he held up his head and cocked his tail to the air. Before he could go off, I put a bullet in behind his shoulder. The wound was an almost immediately fatal one, yet with surprising agility for so large and cumbersome an animal, he bounded up the opposite side of the ravine...and disappeared over the ridge at a lumbering gallop, the blood pouring from his mouth and nostrils. We knew he could not go far, and trotted along his bloody trail...
There is this difference: Teddy didn't harvest the skin. He ate this buffalo. It tasted, he wrote, "uncommonly good..."
credit union greys anatomy greys anatomy x factor auditions 2011 x factor auditions 2011 redacted redacted
