The amazing 'pixie dust'

Scientists are claiming an amazing breakthrough - regrowing a man's severed finger with the aid of an experimental powder.

Four weeks after Lee Spievack sliced almost half an inch off the
top of one of his fingers, he said it had grown back to its original
length.

Four months later it looked like any other finger, complete with "great feeling", a fingernail and fingerprint.

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Intelligence or propaganda?

American security officials this week presented members of Congress with evidence supposedly showing that Syria, with North Korean assistance, was building a nuclear reactor on the target site and that this facility was "not intended for peaceful activities". Pictures have been released allegedly taken inside the facility showing a reactor core being built as well as an image of North Koreans working there.

There is no independent way to verify any of this, especially since the installation has now been destroyed. We must rely on the integrity of the Israeli and US intelligence services. That is where we hit a problem.

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Americans unload prized belongings to make ends meet

Struggling with mounting debt and rising prices, faced with the toughest economic times since the early 1990s, Americans are selling prized possessions online and at flea markets at alarming rates.

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Economists say it is difficult to compare the selling trend with other tough times because the Internet, only in wide use since the mid-1990s, has made it much easier to unload goods than, say, at pawn shops.

But clearly, cash-strapped people are selling their belongings at bargain prices, with a flood of listings for secondhand cars, clothing and furniture hitting the market in recent months, particularly since January.

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Have Scientists Discovered a Way of Peering Into the Future?

"It's Earth shattering stuff," says Dr Roger Nelson, Emeritus researcher at Princeton University in the USA. "But unfortunately we don't have a box for predicting the future that we can sell to the CIA. We're very early on in the process of trying to figure out what's going on here. At the moment we're stabbing in the dark."

Dr Nelson's Global Consciousness Project - originally hosted by Princeton University - is one of the most extraordinary experiments of all time. It aims to ‘sense' whether all of humanity shares a single unconscious mind that we all tap into without realising it. Some might refer to it as the mind of God. But the machine has also thrown up another tantalising possibility: that scientists may have unwittingly discovered a way of predicting the future.

Interesting read.

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Is the Bible True? -- A Debate

"Somebody ought to tell the truth about the Bible."

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Foreclosures spike 112% - no end in sight

The worst hit states are still clustered in the Southwest; Nevada, California and Arizona lead the nation in foreclosure filings. Prices ran up rapidly in these areas during the bubble years as speculators snapped up single-family homes and condos as investments.

In the first quarter, 1 of every 54 homes in Nevada received some type of foreclosure filing - more than any other state. Its largest city, Las Vegas, had 1 out of every 44 homes go into foreclosure.

Stockton, Calif., had the highest foreclosure rate out of any U.S. metro area, with 1 out of every 30 homes receiving a notice - nearly seven times higher than the national average. The Riverside/San Bernardino region had the second highest rate in the quarter, with one of every 38 homes in default.

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"Hostile" Iran Sparks U.S. Attack Plan

A second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the planning is being driven by what one officer called the "increasingly hostile role" Iran is playing in Iraq - smuggling weapons into Iraq for use against American troops.

"What the Iranians are doing is killing American servicemen and -women inside Iraq," said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Can Bob be anymore dramatic? Why should I believe what you say? What benefit does Iran gain? It seems like that would be a stupid move considering the US military has not been successful up to this point without Iran involvement. I'm thinking you're trying to pull another fast one over on the American people.

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US troop deaths hit 7-month high in Iraq

The killings of three U.S. soldiers in separate attacks in Baghdad pushed the American death toll for April up to 47, making it the deadliest month since September.

Just in case you forgot that killing and mayhem was still going on.

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BP and Shell post big profits in era of record oil prices

The combined profits of $17 billion reignited calls for a windfall tax on oil profits as consumers struggle to pay for food and fuel.

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India recalls measles vaccine after child deaths

Parents said their babies started frothing at the mouth and nose and died within 15 to 20 minutes of being administered the vaccine, news channel NDTV reported.

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Benefits of marijuana mimicked

A way has been found to mimic marijuana's relief of pain and anxiety, which could lead to drugs giving the same medical effect without disorienting side effects or raising questions of legality.

Marijuana's active ingredient, THC, stimulates a receptor in brain cells called CB1 which is also activated, to a much lesser degree, by chemicals, anandamide and 2-AG, our bodies produce naturally.

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Broadband 2.0 Poised to Reshape Web, TV

Now two of the largest ISPs in the United States are hoping to kick off yet another broadband renaissance, this time with home connections that promise to reach 50-100 Mbps, enabling a slew of high-definition content, better-quality video-sharing sites and even 3-D video. Call it Broadband 2.0.

Let's hurry this up.

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Why I Quit Hunting

It should be obvious to any thinking person that nature is a powerful but delicate force. Each living thing on the planet is striving for survival in one way or another, and striving to keep its kind from becoming extinct. Various species of plants, birds and animals have survived earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, fires, floods and many other kinds of natural catastrophes only to fall victim to uncaring humans.

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More often than not, the creature is killed for pleasure instead of for food. A certain sadistic pleasure is derived by killing another creature. When a human kills an animal the act fuels his ego: he has mastered the creature by taking its life.

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It is nothing but fuel for the insecure ego of small men.

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Humanity lives not by reality but by habits— often anchored in selfishness and staggering ignorance. It is this aspect of human nature we must work against.'

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All the president's liars

Did you watch any CNN or Fox News or MSNBC, lo, these past five or six years, listen to the pundits and ponder the wise, informed comments of all the military experts the networks brought on to discuss Iraq policy, then conclude that maybe this war, this appalling invasion might actually be positive, that maybe the surge is working and torture ain't all that bad and the democracy is taking root and America is proud and perky and victorious once again?

Did you believe any of it? Because oh my God, they sure as hell worked us over like a rabid dog works a hunk of gristle.

Who are "they," exactly? Why, they're the newly discovered and rather unexpected fraternity of expert BS artists, a highly specialized group known to gullible Americans as stoic, stern-faced retired generals, colonels, majors, military advisers, former Pentagon officials, the ones you've heard and seen on TV news for years, but who are known to the Bush administration as a delightfully dishonest gaggle of preferred liars, lackeys, shills, puppets and mouthpieces for Dick Cheney and Donny Rumsfeld and Dubya himself.

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Here is the Times revealing, after two years of battling the Defense Department to release the 8,000 pages of incriminating documents by way of instigating lawsuits and leveraging the Freedom of Information Act — and barely even then — that this entire dour fraternity of deceitful military cretins has been in service of BushCo since Sept. 11 — and still is, to this very day.

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To clarify: Whenever you've seen one of those dour-faced retired generals discussing details of U.S. war strategy on MSNBC, chances are staggeringly good he was/is in the pocket of Rummy or Cheney. Whenever a wise old colonel has appeared on Fox or CNN or CBS News to say the surge is working or troop morale is strong or that all those suicide bombings aren't really so bad, chances are overwhelmingly good that he is lying outright and you're hearing exactly what Donald Rumsfeld wanted him to say. Isn't that refreshing?

The Times story is simply astounding.

If you haven't read it yet, then read the Times story here.

Then read the rest of this San Francisco Gate article here.

The Biofuels Scam, Food Shortages and the Coming Collapse of the Human Population

It was one of the dumbest "green" ideas ever proposed: Convert millions of acres of cropland into fields for growing ethanol from corn, then burn fossil fuels to harvest the ethanol, expending more energy to extract the fuel than you get from the fuel itself! Meanwhile, sit back and proclaim you've achieved a monumental green victory (President Bush, anyone?) all while unleashing a dangerous spike in global food prices that's causing a ripple effect of food shortages and rationing around the world.

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Tyrannosaurus rex protein proves dinosaurs evolved into birds

Analysis of protein preserved within a fossil bone has provided molecular evidence to support the theory that dinosaurs evolved into birds.

Similarities between bone structure and the discovery of feather-like remains on dinosaur fossils have previously been cited, but scientists have now found the first molecular link.

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CHILD ABUSE CASES ROCK OVERSEAS PRESS, WHILE U.S. FOCUSED ON 'POLYGAMY RANCH'

Below are a number of stories with links picked up in a cursory Google News Search. Child abuse cases involving rabbis and ultra-Orthodox families are percolating, and in some cases boiling over, in the Israeli, Australian, and Canadian press. Use any of the key words and you will likely find even more articles.

Funny, Wolf Blitzer and others don't seem to be talking about ANY of this. They're distracted by the "polygamy ranch" instead.

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FBI wants widespread monitoring of 'illegal' Internet activity

In addition, it's unclear whether "illegal activity" would be limited to responding to denial-of-service attacks and botnets, or would also include detecting other illegal activities, such as online gambling, the distribution of "obscene" images of adults engaged in sexual acts, or selling drugs without a license.

Oh, it's clear if you look past the smoke cloud. And even if you currently do not engage in the above activities, remember, what's legal to do today, may not be legal to do tomorrow. Thus, that list will grow.

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Human line 'nearly split in two'

Ancient humans started down the path of evolving into two separate
species before merging back into a single population, a genetic study
suggests.

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Pain as an Art Form

Pain doesn’t show up on a body scan and can’t be measured in a test. As a result, many chronic pain sufferers turn to art, opting to paint, draw or sculpt images in an effort to depict their pain.

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