Moments of Awareness

SAN FRANCISCO — As the proprietor of Chung Chou City, a packed-to-the-gills dried seafood emporium in Chinatown here, Anna Li presides over barrels full of coveted ingredients like dried shrimp eggs and scallops and fried fish stomachs. The Rolls-Royce of the sea is her shark’s fin, the pricey pièce de résistance of traditional Chinese banquets. “No shark’s fin soup, you’re cheap,” said Mrs. Li, summing up the prevailing ethos toward the steamy glutinous broth, for centuries a symbol of virility, wealth and power. But in a move that has infuriated Mrs. Li and others in this community, a bill recently introduced in the California Legislature would ban the sale and possession of shark fins, including the serving of shark’s fin soup. Down the rickety alleyways and produce-laden byways of San Francisco’s Chinatown, some see the proposed law as a cultural assault — a sort of Chinese Exclusion Act in a bowl. Simi...

Every thousand years a doomsday threatens. Early Christians believed the day of judgment was nigh. Medieval millenarians expected the world to end in 1000 A.D. These fatal termini would have required supernatural intervention; in the old days humans lacked sufficient means to destroy themselves. The discovery, in 1938, of how to release  nuclear energy  changed all that. Humankind acquired the means of its own destruction. Even were we to succeed in eliminating our weapons of doomsday — one subject of “How the End Begins” — we would still know how to build them. From our contemporary double millennium forward, the essential challenge confronting our species will remain how to avoid destroying the human world. Ron Rosenbaum is an author who likes to ask inconvenient questions. He has untombed the secrets of the Yale secret society Skull and Bones, tumbled among contending Shakespeare scholars and rappelled into the bottomless darkness of Adolf Hi...

JAKARTA, Indonesia — On the third floor of a shopping mall here, around the corner from a Gap Kids and a Wedgwood china outlet, a new tenant is busily promoting what is perhaps the world’s biggest brand: America. The tenant, called @america , represents the United States government’s first attempt at creating a full-fledged cultural center since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. A high-tech, interactive operation heralded as the digital-age successor to the venerable American Cultural Center, it is also American public diplomacy’s latest effort to win over young foreigners, especially in Muslim countries. Thousands of high school and college students have been bused in from schools in Jakarta, the capital, and its outskirts since @america’s opening in December. Just before five members of Congress dropped by recently, the center was filled with 118 students from Islamic Senior High School No. 4. The technology on display — a giant, supercharged v...

It seems the popularity of foods made from human breast milk is on the rise. Last week, a London ice cream shop unveiled a " Baby Gaga" flavor made with human breast milk. So many people clamored for it that the shop ran out of the flavor on the day of its debut. And last year, a New York University graduate student started making human breast milk cheese, in varieties such as "City Funk" and "Wisconsin Bang." What is it that attracts people to these strange comestibles? And why do others find them absolutely revolting? It's easy to pinpoint what's repelling about the products: We all have an innate disgust for bodily secretions hardwired into our brains, said Gavan Fitzsimons, a professor of marketing and psychology at Duke University in North Carolina. "You get the same reaction whether it's breast milk , whether it's blood, whether it's saliva, and at some level, there's logic to it," Fitzsimons told MyHeal...

The U.S. Air Force will try to launch its second secretive X-37B space plane from Florida again Saturday (March 5), after bad weather foiled the first attempt Friday. The unmanned X-37B mini-shuttle — which is known as Orbital Test Vehicle 2 , or OTV-2 — is now slated to launch at 5:46 p.m. EST (2246 GMT) today from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The reusable space plane will ride to orbit atop an Atlas 5 rocket to begin its mysterious mission, if the weather allows. Two launch attempts were thwarted yesterday due to high winds and thick cumulus clouds. The latter posed an unacceptable lightning risk, according to launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA), which is overseeing launch preparations. The forecast for today doesn't look much better. On Friday afternoon, ULA officials said there's a 70 percent chance bad weather will delay today's launch try. Launch crews also had to replace a faulty piece of equipment needed for today's launch attempt,...

Weeks after a story shot across the Web claiming that the imminent explosion of a nearby star would result in the appearance of a second sun in the sky — a story that was later debunked — two suns were caught on camera yesterday in China. The suns — one fuzzy and orange, the other a crisp yellow orb — appeared side-by-side, one slightly higher than the other. What's going on? Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to Space.com, asked Jim Kaler, the University of Illinois astronomer who squelched the excitement over the aforementioned exploding Betelgeuse and who has written books on the day and night sky. The double sun image is an effect of optical refraction, Kaler said, but it's a "pretty darn rare" one, and one not fully explained by science. "I doubt it's been computer modeled," he said. "There must have been some blob of atmosphere somewhere that caused this truly spectacular phenomenon, which in a sense is a mirage."  [ Amaz...

CHICAGO — A Northwestern University professor who allowed an on-campus presentation of a live sex act during an after-class event apologized on Saturday and said it would not happen again. The demonstration featured use of a sex toy on a naked woman by her fiance in front of more than 100 students at an after-class event for a sexuality course at the prestigious private university in Evanston, Illinois, north of Chicago. "I regret allowing the controversial after class demonstration on February 21st," Professor J. Michael Bailey, who teaches a popular class on human sexuality, wrote in a statement. "I regret the effect that this has had on Northwestern University's reputation, and I regret upsetting so many people in this particular manner. I apologize," he wrote. He added that the demonstration was "relevant" to the class but that he would not allow a similar event again. [...] Full article at  msnbc.msn.com I'll be intere...

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Workers at a circuit-board factory here just saw their  health insurance  premiums rise 20 percent. At Buddy Zaremba’s print shop nearby, the increase was 37 percent. And for engineers at the Woodland Design Group, they rose 43 percent. The new federal health care law may eventually “bend the cost curve” downward, as proponents argue. But for now, at many workplaces here, the rising cost of health care is prompting insurance premiums to skyrocket while coverage is shrinking. As Congress continues to debate the new health care law, health insurance costs are still rising, particularly for small businesses. Republicans are seizing on the trend as evidence that the new law includes expensive features that are driving up premiums. But the insurance industry says premiums are rising primarily because of the underlying cost of care and a growing demand for it. Across the country, premiums have more than doubled in the last decad...

"We listen to music and talk to people." Watch live on Cable One Channel 11 in southwestern Idaho and eastern Oregon or on-line (there's an approximately thirty-second delay) and give us a call at 1-208-343-1100 between 10 and 11PM MT. Check out rising local talent (and most recent winner of Knitting Factory 's Battle of the Bands) Actual Depiction on tonight's show. Watch previous shows on YouTube here and background videos with music (now in widescreen HD) here . Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

LONDON — A 350-year-old notebook which documents the trials of women convicted of witchcraft in England during the 17th century has been published online. The notebook written by Nehemiah Wallington, an English Puritan, recounts the fate of women accused of having relationships with the devil at a time when England was embroiled in a bitter civil war The document reveals the details of a witchcraft trial held in Chelmsford in July 1645, when more than a hundred suspected witches were serving time in Essex and Suffolk according to his account. "Divers (many) of them voluntarily and without any forcing or compulsion freely declare that they have made a covenant with the Devill," he wrote. "Som Christians have been killed by their meanes," he added. [...] Full article at  msnbc.msn.com   Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

THE other night my husband and I were having serious pillow talk. But not the kind you might think. Ours went something like this: Husband: Don’t we need new pillows? We’ve been sleeping on ours for, like, seven years. Me: They seem fine to me. Husband: But they are probably full of dust mites and other gross stuff. Me: Ugh. O.K. [...] Full article at  nytimes.com This is interesting: "They are almost nonexistent in places like New Mexico but thrive in tropical areas like Florida." I've always been under the impression that they were sort of symbiotic with us, necessary to the process of breaking down the vast amounts of skin and hair cells shed by everyone with skin and hair, all the time. (And, if I may say so, this is a great illustration of the reasons I favor students spending as much of their research time on-line as possible. No printed text or combination of texts can possibly offer access to anywhere near the same vast amount of up-to-da...

« The 2010 Dietary Guidelines: Doesn't ANYONE Have A New Idea? | Main | Accept Our Size and Forget All This? Part 2 » by Barbara Berkeley, MD Being on a weight loss diet can be annoying.  It's tough to have rules to follow, frustrating to face restrictions,and maddening to cheat when you promised yourself that you wouldn't.  But as annoying as that diet can be, it can also provide an underlying sense of relief.  Once you hit your stride, you are following a plan.  The anxieties caused by an overwhelming number of food choices are tamped down.  You've got a roadmap to follow. In my medical practice, we offer the option of beginning weight loss with two weeks on a diet of pre-made liquids and bars.  Although we don't push for this choice, most people elect it.  They tell us that they have a feeling of freedom when they don't have to make any food decisions at all.  They also enjoy a se...

A whole page of ^  Dale of Norway  (or at least his very well-chosen model :D), and a whole site dedicated to really gorgeous  Nordic knitwear . Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

Do you remember Tamagotchi? Those little keychain things that acted as virtual pets, forcing you to feed them and play with them, otherwise they’d die return to their home planet? Well, Grandroids are kind of similar, but not really. [...] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [ KickStarter ] Full article at  mobilemag.com Thanks to Robert P Reibold for sharing. Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

CREDIT: Arto Oksanen View full size image NASA's first solar sail to circle Earth in low orbit is making regular evening passes over much of the United States and Canada over the next week, and may be visible to skywatchers if conditions are clear. The solar sail satellite, called NanoSail-D , is making promising passes over the 48 contiguous U.S. states and southern Canada through Monday, March 7. NASA launched NanoSail-D in November and the satellitesuccessfully deployed its 100-square-foot polymer sail in low-Earth orbit on Jan. 20 after weeks of delay. NASA officials expect the solar sail to stay in low-Earth orbit until at least April  1 – possibly through mid-May – depending on atmospheric conditions. [ Photos: Spotting Spaceships and Satellites ] [...] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publicati...

This sky map of Venus and the moon shows how they will appear at about 6:30 a.m. ET on Feb. 28, 2011 to the U.S. East Coast. Observers in other parts of the U.S. may see a similar sight at around the same time, weather permitting. CREDIT: Starry Night Software View full size image Early risers will be treated to a striking celestial sight early next week as the two brightest objects in the night sky — the moon and Venus — will appear near to each other.  Venus and the moon will appear in low in the east-southeast sky on Monday and Tuesday (Feb. 28 and March 1). For U.S. skywatchers, they will rise over the horizon at around 4:30 a.m. local time and should be in a good position to be viewed about 60 to 90 minutes later in the brightening dawn. [...] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, an...

Check out Avenpitch (first play ~5:05) and Mystery Primates Worldwide (first play ~12:13), along with Ronnie Long, Fred McDowell, La Resistance, and Portland's Kasey Anderson & the Honkies, accompanied in part by video of Actual Depiction at Thorn Creek (it was a great party, y'all) in the new widescreen HD format. (Well, the Thorn Creek footage was recorded at a lower res, but it's a lot clearer than in the show videos. :D) I will say, Moments of Awareness does not encourage the throwing of great balls of fire by anyone not fully qualified to do so, but we do encourage the videotaping of anyone who does choose to do it, 'cause if it goes well it's very cool and if it doesn't it might help the medics figure out where they need to start. :) Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

Avenpitch_-_Soon_Enough.mp3 Listen on Posterous Avenpitch Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

Man, goose form odd-couple friendship February 28, 2011 4:24 PM As part of our continuing series "Assignment America," Steve Hartman meets a retired salesman from Los Angeles who shares a special bond with a Gray Toulouse goose named Maria. via cbsnews.com Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

I think you can catch a glimpse of the lovely Lauryn in this, and I hope it 'haunts' her on the late-night talk show circuit for every movie she's 'required' (oh, hideous torture having to attend all those screenings and late-night talk shows :D) to get out there and promote over the course of what will hopefully (and likely) be a long and illustrious acting/singing/fitness-promoting career. :) Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

via notphil.posterous.com   Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

MYSTERY OF THE MISSING SUNSPOTS, SOLVED? Two years ago when solar activity plunged into a century-class minimum, many experts were puzzled. Now a group of researchers say they have cracked the mystery of the missing sunspots. Get the full story from Science@NASA. GEOMAGNETIC STORM: A solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field on March 1st, sparking a day-long geomagnetic storm and bright auroras around the Arctic Circle. NASA space physicist James Spann photographed the display from Poker Flat, Alaska, where he is attending a scientific conference to study (you guessed it) aur...

 > PLAY SONGS    Share Retailers    iTunes    Amazon Mp3    Rhapsody    CD Baby     SPECIAL SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT FROM DIALTONE   Who:  Dialtone When:  Fri Mar 04 2011 @ 08:00 PM Where:  The Park Bar and Grill, Burbank, CA Details:  Dialtone Rocks the shit outta The Park Bar on Friday, March 4th with Medium Density and two other cool acts! Show starts at 8PM and we hit the stage at 11PM! Dial in and SHOW UP!!!! Hello all you dialed in mother effers!!     We gotta big ass show THIS Friday at 11:30PM at The Park Bar in Burbank!! There are 4 bands and one solo artist including: Clare Means, Medium Density, Triple Dog Dare, Hiedi Askew, and DIALTONE!!!! It's gonna be a fun and fully nude show, that's right, all the bands have agreed to play in the buff and we are a hansome bunch, lemme tell you!! Come by ...

1981 Yamaha XS 1100 Vintage Pristine Black 'Midnight Special' Gold Trim See the full gallery on Posterous   Posted via email from Moments of Awareness

TOKYO — At first, the postings on a popular Web site last week seemed innocuous enough: a user soliciting help for answers to a series of difficult math and English questions. But it later became clear that the questions were taken straight from an entrance exam to prestigious Kyoto University. And they were being posted — and receiving answers from other users — while the exam was still underway. On Tuesday, police launched a manhunt for one or possibly more users who are believed to have used a single online handle, “aicezuki,” to cheat on exams at Kyoto University and three other top universities. The schools say they suspect test takers used cell phones to post the questions on the site and get the answers while the tests were still in progress. While it is unclear whether more than one person was involved, the incident has become a full-blown national scandal, raising questions about how to monitor the grueling exams, the main route to succ...

Editor's Note: Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio is ordained in the Episcopal Church and has taught a variety of educational institutions, including Yale University. She is also the author of "God and Harry at Yale: Faith and Fiction in the Classroom." By Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio , Special to CNN “Sister Wives” is virtually sacred time in my home. When it’s on, I refuse to answer the phone or move from the couch, and anyone who talks risks both a DVR rewind and a scornful look for interrupting the episode’s flow. I admit that referring to any television viewing as “sacred time” is a bit sacrilegious, especially coming from an Episcopal priest. But I can’t help it — I’m so fascinated by this show that I’ve seen every episode twice (including the honeymoon special), researched fundamentalist Mormon wedding rituals, and dreamed of visiting the cake tasting bakery.   Yet many don’t appreciate my enthusiasm. Every...

Back in July, 2000, the Idaho Correctional Center opened as the state's first privately run prison. Recently, I.C.C, run by Corrections Corporation of America, has come under fire after a lawsuit filed by the America Civil Liberties Union, alleging misconduct, mismanagement and more. For the past two months, KBOI 2 News has combed through more than 1,000 pages of documents, including the state's contract with C.C.A. We have also spoken with more than a dozen people trying to learn exactly what's happening inside Idaho's private prison which many believe has become a public problem. The video from last year is hard to forget. A 30 minute inmate assault at the Idaho Correctional Center in Kuna as guards stand by and watch. According to the A.C.L.U, the Idaho Correctional Center has more violence than Idaho's eight other prisons combined. [...]                               ...

From: National MS Society Date: Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 11:00 PM UTAH - SOUTHERN IDAHO PROGRAMS NEWSLETTER MARCH 2011 _________________ Are You an MS Activist? Sign up to receive news and updates on health policies, help find solutions to MS issues, and take action on legislation that matters. ______________________ Contact the Chapter 800-344-4867 cureMSutah.org cureMSidaho.org Salt Lake City Office 6364 S. Highland Drive Suite 101 Salt Lake City, UT 84121 Boise Office 6901 W. Emerald St. Suite 207 Boise, ID 83704 Hello Peace : MS Awareness Week is March 14-20 – What will you do? Let’s embrace the week and share our hope for a world free of MS. There are ways to spread awareness both big and small. You can start by sharing what MS means to you via the MS = campaign that will populate social media channels including on our Facebook page that week. Check it out . Here also are other easy ideas for the week: Wear orange to work, while you exercise or...