Today, November 27th, marks the beginning of 2009's Eid al-Adha, the Muslim "Festival of Sacrifice", commemorating the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son to God. Muslims around the world will celebrate by slaughtering animals to commemorate God's gift of a ram to substitute for Abraham's son, distributing the meat amongst family, friends and the poor. Eid al-Adha also takes place immediately after the Hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca that is a pillar of Islamic Faith. Some 2.5 million Muslim faithful from all over the world descended on Mecca this year, many encountering an unusual occurance: heavy flooding due to recent torrential rains. Collected below are photographs from this year's Hajj and observance of Eid al-Adha. (38 photos total)
MANY people would not think of making a major purchase without doing research to find the best model and the lowest price. But at the checkout counter, all of that preparation often breaks down.
There, shoppers are asked to buy a product that few have investigated: the extended warranty. New research suggests that the appeal of such warranties depends not only the inability of most people to assess risk, but also on the emotional state of the buyer. The happier you are, it turns out, the more risk-averse you become, so the more likely you are to buy the protection.
You’ve undoubtedly heard the reasons for buying one:
Your product could break. You are clumsy. Or your kids are. The plan is convenient and will save you time. You’ve already saved $200 from what the product cost two months ago. It’s cheaper than a dinner out.
I overheard them all at a Best Buy in a single Sunday afternoon.
You probably can guess why the salespeople try so hard. Extended warranties are highly profitable. They tend to cost about 20 percent of the purchase price, and they can run even higher.
Over the last 12 months, 1,042 soldiers, Marines, sailors and Air Force personnel have given their lives in the terrible duty that is war. Thousands more have come home on stretchers, horribly wounded and facing months or years in military hospitals.
This week, I'm turning my space over to a good friend and former roommate, Army Lt. Col. Robert Bateman, who recently completed a yearlong tour of duty in Iraq and is now back at the Pentagon.
Here's Lt. Col. Bateman's account of a little-known ceremony that fills the halls of the Army corridor of the Pentagon with cheers, applause and many tears every Friday morning. It first appeared on May 17 on the Weblog of media critic and pundit Eric Alterman at the Media Matters for America Website.
Fri, Dec. 4 | 6-9 pm Join Northwood Church for some free family Christmas entertainment. Journey to the Manger features a live petting zoo for kids, nativity characters from the Bible and a chance to sip some hot chocolate and hang out with friends and family. Stop by and stay as long as you want.
President Barack Obama recently announced that he was determined to "finish the job" in Afghanistan, and aides signaled to allies that he would send as many as 25,000 to 30,000 additional American troops there. Obama will formally announce his decision in a national address at 8 p.m. Tuesday from the Military Academy at West Point. As casualties mount on both sides, 2009 is shaping up to be the deadliest year yet for coalition troops - twice as deadly as 2008. American and Afghan officials have been encouraged by the recent rise of independent anti-Taliban militias in Afghanistan, even though their emergence is recent and supporting them raises fears of the consequences of arming and training Islamic militants. Collected here are images of the country and conflict over the past month, part of an ongoing monthly series on Afghanistan. (42 photos total)
WARNING: SOME PHOTOS ARE GRAPHIC. Click the picture to see the full collection.
Gifts that people buy for other people are usually poorly matched to the recipients' preferences. What the recipients would willingly pay for the gifts is usually less than the givers paid. The measure of the inefficiency of allocating value by gift-giving is the difference between the yield of satisfaction per dollar spent on gifts and the yield per dollar spent on the recipients' own purchases.
At least the Christmas stimulus strengthens the economy, right? Wrong, says Waldfogel. If all spending justified itself, we would pay people to dig holes and then refill them -- or build bridges to unpopulated Alaskan islands. Spending is good if the purchaser, or the recipient of a gift, values the commodity more than he does the money it costs. Otherwise, there is a subtraction from society's store of value.
The crew aboard space shuttle Atlantis began its homeward journey today, undocking from the International Space Station. It's been a successful mission to provide equipment that will extend the station's lifetime in space.
Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.
We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:
the sanctity of human life
the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
the rights of conscience and religious liberty.
Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Click on the image above to read and then add your signature to the Manhattan Declaration.
This is from Chuck Colson's Breakpoint post today.
I can’t sing the words of that familiar Advent song “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” without remembering a young boy—a child of a prisoner.
Every year, Patty and I deliver Angel Tree Christmas gifts to the children of prisoners. And I’ll never forget one year in particular, when Patty and I drove into a housing project to deliver our gifts.
We saw broken windows and grim-faced gang members lounging in doorways. After parking our car, we found our way to an apartment and knocked on the door. A boy, about 9 years old, cautiously opened the door.
“Merry Christmas,” I said, holding out the presents. “These are from your Daddy.”
Immediately, the door swung wide open to let us in. The boy’s mother was on her way home from work, and as we waited for her, we saw that the apartment inside was a wreck. The furniture was torn, the stuffing falling out. A scraggly Christmas tree leaned up against the wall, bare of any presents.
When I asked the boy his name, he replied, “Emmanuel.”
“Emmanuel,” I said, “Do you know what your name means?” I opened my Bible and read from Matthew: “And they shall call him Emmanuel—which means ‘God with us.’”
Just then, his mother came to the door. Emmanuel threw his arms around her thighs, crying, “Mama, Mama, God is with us!”
In order to show kids “how cool science can be,” President Obama announced today that he will convene an annual science fair starting next year.
The winners of national competitions in science and technology will be annually invited to the White House as a congratulatory event equal to those, the president said, that are normally reserved for sports stars.
“If you win the NCAA championship, you come to the White House. Well, if you’re a young person and you’ve produced the best experiment or design, the best hardware or software, you ought to be recognized for that achievement, too. Scientists and engineers ought to stand side by side with athletes and entertainers as role models, and here at the White House we’re going to lead by example. We’re going to show young people how cool science can be.”
National Geographic's International Photography Contest attracts thousands of entries from photographers of all skill levels around the world every year. While this year's entry deadline has passed, there is still time to view and vote for your favorites in the Viewer's Choice competition. National Geographic was kind enough to let me choose a few of their entries from 2009 for display here on The Big Picture. Collected below are 25 images from the three categories of People, Places and Nature. Captions were written by the individual photographers. (25 photos total)
In March of 1861, a new president had just been sworn in and the nation was on the brink of civil war. Yet Abraham Lincoln still found a moment to come to the defense of a kid whose schoolmates were picking on him.
A medium-sized popcorn and medium soda at the nation’s largest movie chain pack the nutritional equivalent of three Quarter Pounders topped with 12 pats of butter, according to a report released today by the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest.
The group’s second look at movie theater concessions — the last was 15 years ago — found little had changed in a decade and a half, despite theaters’ attempts to reformulate.
The percentage of consumers who will pay for holiday gifts with cash or debit cards instead of credit cards is expected to rise this year, a trend that could further depress holiday sales.
A shift away from credit cards could make what is expected to be a difficult holiday season even more challenging for retailers. Store clerks have long found that it's easier to persuade people who are using credit cards instead of cash to spend more than they were intending, says NRF spokeswoman Ellen Davis.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) says it expects to restart the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) by this weekend after more than a year of repairs. The 27 km (17 mi) particle accelerator was launched last year, but suffered a failure from a faulty electrical connection, damaging 53 of the smasher's 9,300 superconducting magnets. Repairs are now completed, and the plan is to begin injecting protons into the LHC this weekend, on the path to search for particles such as predicted-yet-unobserved Higgs Boson. Collected below are some photographs of the repairs, and of the LHC and some of its experiments in various stages of construction. (30 photos total)
Nordstrom has conquered the urge to celebrate Christmas before Thanksgiving. The retailer announced its decision to respect the calendar and common sense by hanging signs declaring that they will wait until the day after Thanksgiving, the earliest acceptable moment, to display their Christmas decorations. The vainglorious announcement is an important indicator that Nordstrom's competitors have overdone the unseasonable cheerfulness schtick.
Forget cookies and milk. Santa wants the swine flu vaccine.
Many of the nation’s Santas want to be given priority for the vaccine and not just because of those runny-nosed kids. There’s also the not-so-little matter of that round belly. Research has suggested obesity could be a risk factor.
Swine flu has become such a concern that the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas featured a seminar on the illness at a recent conference in Philadelphia. The group also urged its members to use hand sanitizer and take vitamins to boost their immune systems.
The president of the organization said he also hopes parents will keep sick kids away.
We humans are drawn to the shore, with some 40% of the world's population living within 100 kilometers of a coast. Coastal areas have made recent news with the arrival of several storms, concerns about rising sea levels and other environmental and conservation efforts. Collected here are a handful of photographs from around the world of people and animals at the shoreline, playing, working, struggling or relaxing on the border between land and sea. (36 photos total)
In the comfort and security of their car, a family thought there was nothing to worry about as they drove through a South African safari park - until a lion calmly opened their back door with his teeth.
The band will perform on the polo field at the Montreal Hippodrome, kicking in $3 million for the construction of a temporary open-air stadium to fit 60,000 to 80,000 people.
It is the only date for which U2 is not performing in a pre-existing stadium, not to mention fronting the cost of building one.
The commercial is called "Space Chair" and follows the journey of a single armchair that is tied to a balloon and lofted to the edge of space at 98,268 feet. The trek to the lofty altitude took 83 minutes and the fall back to Earth took the chair 24 minutes. The tag line is very ingenious -- Armchair viewing redefined.
Click the image to read about the project. The first video below is the commercial. The second shows how they made the commercial.
One carbon trade case was reported during Dan Rather’s news broadcast on HDNet. Years ago China moved to build a huge hydroelectric dam to generate electricity. Good move, since 80 percent of China’s electricity today comes from highly polluting coal; but more important, the business plan showed that once it was operational, this costly new dam would be profitable. And, since hydroelectricity creates virtually no greenhouse gases, that dam was eligible to sell carbon credits on the open market.
One of Germany’s major utility companies, RWE, purchased those carbon credits from China so they could construct new, low-cost lignite coal power generation plants. Lignite coal is the worst carbon fuel, creating maximum pollutants.
China would have built its dam regardless of carbon markets, but now will get an extra $5 million a year in profits because they did. Over in Europe, Germany will be putting out more noxious emissions than ever because RWE is building lignite coal power generators – because they could afford to pay for those carbon credits from China.
So: Millions of dollars will change hands, but the net result is that the world will have more emissions, not less. How dumb is that?
It’s the latest in eyewear for the linguistically challenged: Japanese computer-maker NEC has created a pair of glasses that double as a translator.
The Tele Scouter integrates spectacle frames with a personal mini-computer and a head-mounted display unit, allowing two or more people with no language in common to hold a conversation.
Conversations are, with the press of a button, recorded and sent to a remote server where they are analyzed and translated.
The server then sends the translation to the receiving user who can read the words in their own language on the display unit.
Health officials around the world are stepping up vaccination efforts and are closely tracking the progress of the H1N1/09 virus (often referred to as "swine flu" in the media). World Health Organization officials recently noted that the virus has spread to virtually every country in the world, reaching as far as remote tribes in Venezuela and aboriginal populations in Australia. Although the number of deaths attributed to H1N1 this year (over 7,000 to date) remains low compared to a normal seasonal flu outbreak of several hundred thousand deaths in a year, health officials remain concerned because of the instability of H1N1/09 combined with its tendency to affect younger healthier people. Collected here are photos of people around the world preparing for and dealing with the current H1N1 pandemic. (37 photos total)
Even as drug makers promise to support Washington’s health care overhaul by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect, the industry has been raising its prices at the fastest rate in years.
In the last year, the industry has raised the wholesale prices of brand-name prescription drugs by about 9 percent, according to industry analysts. That will add more than $10 billion to the nation’s drug bill, which is on track to exceed $300 billion this year. By at least one analysis, it is the highest annual rate of inflation for drug prices since 1992.
The drug trend is distinctly at odds with the direction of the Consumer Price Index, which has fallen by 1.3 percent in the last year.
Burj Dubai, a supertall skyscraper under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 818 m (2,684 ft). Construction began on 21 September 2004, and the tower is expected to be completed and ready for occupancy on 4 January 2010.
“By the way, Mom, when it comes to toddlers — if they like to be coaxed to drink their milk, try this: Add 7-Up to the milk in equal parts pouring the 7-Up gently into the milk. It’s a wholesome combination — and it works!”
It’s been a long, cold year for Queen Elizabeth II.
The British monarch has had to go cap-in-hand to the government she technically heads, asking Prime Minister Gordon Brown for extra cash to keep the royal palaces from crumbling, and public backlash over the royal family’s tax-payer-funded payroll and scandals involving questionable associations and real estate payments have added to her headache.
So, you might assume the Queen is looking forward to a bit of luxuriant rest and relaxation over the holidays – a time to kick back, enjoy good food and drink, and perhaps relish a nice gift or two. Think again.
The Queen, noting the mood of her many out-of-work subjects as Britain muddles through global economic malaise, has informed members of her family that this year is to be a “Credit Crunch Christmas”.
The Royals are not generally prone to extravagant Christmas gift-giving amongst themselves – often opting for “practical” items like bath soaps or a fancy face cloth for the Queen. Stocking contents have been known to include the traditional gift of fresh fruit.
For “Credit Crunch Christmas,” however, Her Majesty has made it known that she requires no gifts at all, and either does her husband, Prince Philip. Any gifts that her family may have had in mind, she asks they be donated to local charities and hospitals .
Last Wednesday was Armistice Day, when on the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month", in 1918, the armistice was signed for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front at the end of World War I. The date is now observed by many of the allied nations from that era as Veterans Day, Armistice Day, Remembrance Day or Poppy Day - a day set aside to commemorate the sacrifices made by those in the armed forces and their families. Collected here are photos of Veterans and Remembrance Day from the United States and several Commonwealth nations. (37 photos total)
As a response to Europe’s “Seven Wonders of the World” list, which didn’t include any Russian sights, Russia organized a national contest to select the seven most beautiful destinations the country has to offer. Almost 26 million people went online and voted for their favorites since the contest started in autumn 2007.
Click the picture to read the article and see other pictures.
This may be hard to explain to the insurance company. From the Associated Press:
A man blamed is blaming a low-flying pelican and a dropped cell phone for his veering his million-dollar sports car off a road and into a salt marsh near Galveston. The accident happened about 3 p.m. Wednesday on the frontage road of Interstate 45 northbound in La Marque, about 35 miles southeast of Houston.
The Lufkin man told of driving his luxury, French-built Bugatti Veyron when the bird distracted him, said La Marque police Lt. Greg Gilchrist. The motorist dropped his cell phone, reached to pick it up and veered off the road and into the salt marsh. The car was half-submerged in the brine about 20 feet from the road when police arrived.
Gilchrist said he doesn't know if the car was salvageable, but in his words, "Salt water isn't good for anything." He says the man, whose identity hasn't been released, was not injured.
A 2006 Bugatti Veyron was recently offered for sale in Jonesboro, Ark., for $1.25 million.
Havana, the capital city of the island nation of Cuba is home to nearly 4 million people - 20% of the entire population of Cuba. On November 16th the city will celebrate its 490th anniversary, being founded by the Spanish in 1519. Havana is also the seat of the state-run economy, one that has been faltering more and more in recent years. President Raul Castro has even gone so far as to warn Cubans that their socialist system must change - and to invite (limited) criticism of the state. Cuba's economic woes are compounded by the 50-year-old trade embargo imposed by the United States, a practice recently condemned (again) by the United Nations with a vote of 187-3. Collected here are recent photos from in and around Havana, Cuba. (35 photos total)
Calvin & Hobbes was always one of my favorite comic strips. A website has compiled their 25 favorite strips. It was great to be able to go back and read some of this comic strip greatness.
The most embarrassing new tech product of the year just got more embarrassing.
Last month, we let you know about the Wi-Fi Body Scale, the first bathroom scale equipped with a wireless connection to send your weight and body fat information directly to your Web page and iPhone.
But weight, there’s more.
Today the French company behind the scale, Withings, announced it has added Twitter capability to the scale, enabling the user to automatically tweet the weight/fat info to followers.
A soldier has been given leave from her duties to represent England in the Miss World competition.
L/Cpl Katrina Hodge, 21, from Tunbridge Wells, will take over from the previous Miss England who stepped down after her arrest over an alleged nightclub brawl.
Organisers of Miss England said 21-year-old Rachel Christie wanted to concentrate on clearing her name.
Miss Hodge, nicknamed Combat Barbie after being commended for bravery in Iraq, will take on beauty queen duties.
