Archive for May 27, 2012

The History of Memorial Day & USAA’s 2012 Memorial Day Ceremony (full video)

from the United States Dept. of Veteran Affairs

Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.

The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

The ceremonies centered around the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Various Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presided over the ceremonies. After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns.

Local Observances Claim To Be First Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held in various places. One of the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., April 25, 1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well.

Today, cities in the North and the South claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, Ga., claim the title, as well as Richmond, Va. The village of Boalsburg, Pa., claims it began there two years earlier. A stone in a Carbondale, Ill., cemetery carries the statement that the first Decoration Day ceremony took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbondale was the wartime home of Gen. Logan. Approximately 25 places have been named in connection with the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South where most of the war dead were buried. . . . Read Complete Report

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from youtube

USAA’s 2012 Memorial Day Ceremony

Published on May 25, 2012 by

See more videos like this at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD300C223ADD82BEC
Courage to Persevere is the theme of USAA’s 2012 Memorial Day program. Highlights include J.R. Martinez, motivational speaker and champion of Dancing with the Stars, Season 13; singer Angie Johnson, a contestant on The Voice and former Tops in Blue performer; and country music artist Russ Murphy. . . . SOURCE

Unusual object found near Mount Ararat (w/video)

Photo Mount Ararat SOURCE

from DiscloseTV

Fal2grace

uploaded: May 22, 2012

Description:

Unusual object found near Mount Ararat

Read more: http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/105515/Unusual_object_found_near_Mount_Ararat/#ixzz1w6aDxX5I

 

http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/105515/Unusual_object_found_near_Mount_Ararat/

Robots Will Quickly Recognize and Respond to Human Gestures, With New Algorithms

from Science Daily

ScienceDaily (May 24, 2012) — New intelligent algorithms could help robots to quickly recognize and respond to human gestures. Researchers at A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research in Singapore have created a computer program which recognizes human gestures quickly and accurately, and requires very little training. . . . Read Complete Report

NASA Study: Chemistry of Thunderstorms

Photo: NASA’s DC-8 Earth Science laboratory sports numerous probes for collecting atmospheric samples. The aircraft, based at the Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif., is ready to participate in the DC3 campaign. Credit: NASA/Tom Tschida

Now that NASA is not the only ball in the game and privatization is the future of space travel  I guess they have to have something to spend money on. But thunderstorms? It’s common knowledge that we know enough about the weather to manipulate it.  But then I guess we need to catch up with China. . . .EDITOR

from NASA

05.08.12
NASA researchers are about to fly off on a campaign that will take them into the heart of thunderstorm country.

The Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) field campaign will use an airport in Salina, Kan., as a base to explore the impact of large thunderstorms on the concentration of ozone and other substances in the upper troposphere. The campaign is being led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA. . . . Read Complete Report

Rick Osmon: Dumb and Dumber in Congress

Yahoo News article reports how a think-tank report by the Sunlight Foundation, a D.C.-based 501(c)(3) educational organization, trashed members of Congress on their speaking skills, trashing some more than others. SF ranked members according to the Flesch-Kincaid test, a scale that gave Abe Lincoln a writing score of a high school junior for the Gettysburg Address and Ernest Hemingway novels that of a fifth grader. This asinine approach, applying a test of writing skills to spoken language, is already bad enough, but on top of all else, the SF is supposed to be an apolitical educational foundation dedicated to transparency in government. Yet, the rankings were accompanied with commentary that clearly categorized Congressional Members by political leanings. They didn’t say “Republican” and “Democrat”, but they used “liberal” and “conservative” or “Right” and “Left”. They had to at least give the appearance of being apolitical because 501(c)(3) corporations are prohibited from blatant party promotion, direct affiliation, or individual candidate bias. Showing such bias could get their tax free status pulled. The DNC and RNC are exempt from that, of course.

Let’s get back to the findings. Generally, liberals used bigger words and more complex sentences than did conservatives. Is that a reflection of the ways in which they write bills for Congress that we must then obey and fund? Sadly, yes, it is.

Without risking plagiarism, but, more importantly, without stealing Yahoo reporter, Virginia Hefernan’s, thunder, the Member of Congress who got the lowest ranking from Sunlight Foundation is an absolute ace at public speaking, far better at executing the concept of public communications than most of his colleagues. He not only addresses his constituents, he interacts with them. And he doesn’t need a teleprompter. Nor does he need a professional speech writer. He just happens to be a Republican who was ranked at a 7th grade level using the Flesch-Kincaid test.

All the above notwithstanding (using that big word just raised this article’s ranking), I think I figured out why the Right uses smaller, simpler words than the Left: they are addressing the Congress, not just their own party. In any case, the overall score for the entire Congress is downright dismal. As a group, Congress speaks at the level of a high school sophomore. Even more dismal is their level of concern for the taxpayer. Yes, they really are sophomoric.

The main question here, though, is why would Sunlight Foundation or any educational body try to apply a readability score to oratory? Does this at least partially explain what is wrong with our education system?

The Planet X Nibiru Files

Illustration: Degree of tilt from NIbiru passing Earth. SOURCE churchofcriticalthinking.org.

Note: This information is provided to give you a chance to hear all viewpoints.  That does not mean we here at THEI necessarily subscribe to all we post.  Just being fair. (Or, more bluntly. just in case they are right I am covering my ass.).. . . EDITOR

from The Church of Critical Thinking

Planet X Nibiru Projected Orbital Return 2012
Greetings and Welcome to the Planet X Files!

The equations that follow are real. The numbers have not been changed to protect the innocent. The consequences will be real. I’ve done my very best to keep it simple so anyone can follow along and understand. There are no “doomsday” predictions here, but this event will take place. Knowing this can save the life of you and yours. My personal advice should headlines start creeping around by 2010? By late 2012 = stay away from the coasts. . . . go to web site.


US House Votes Against Stopping Feds’ Medical Pot Raids (w/ related video)

from High Times

by Mark Miller

Tue, May 15, 2012 2:55 pm

For the sixth time in a decade, the U.S. House of Representatives last week defeated an amendment to an appropriations bill that would have prohibited the federal Dept of Justice from raiding medical marijuana dispensaries in those states with legal medicinal cannabis laws.

The bipartisan amendment was co-sponsored, as it has been each of the six times it’s been introduced, by Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and this year they were joined by Tom McClintock (R-CA) and Sam Farr (D-CA).

 The final tally was 262-163 against the amendment,. . . Read Complete Report

 

The HIGH TIMES Medical Cannabis Cup Returns to the Bay Area

Published on May 18, 2012 by

HIGH TIMES is heading back to the Bay Area for the third year in a row! The HT Medical Cannabis Cup will be held in Richmond, CA June 23-24!
This two-day expo highlights the best of the Bay’s medical marijuana industry.
Don’t miss out on grow seminars with HIGH TIMES’ cultivation editors Nico Escondido and  Danny Danko, and other experts in the field who know how to grow great ganja.
There will also be seminars featuring doctors, patients, researchers, dispensary owners, canna-business owners, and activists.

Plus, a special Saturday night VIP party featuring Del The Funky Homosapien, Smoke DZA, Harry Fraud, and many more! HIGH TIMES will also honor Richard Lee with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit MedCanCup.com. . . . SOURCE

Retro: UFO Sucks Up Water From Lake Gosford Australia 1994 (w/video report)

Over my years of investigating UFOs I have read and heard a lot of stories of UFOs involvement in some way with bodies of water.  As early as the Airship Mysteries of the 1800s there have been a few stories describing unidentified aircraft actually taking on water. Could water have something to do with the “fuel” used to propel some of the unknowns?  Here is, what I believe to be, one of the best documented cases involving a UFO taking on water. In particular eyewitness documentation that cannot be brushed off with the usual skeptical “answers.” . . . EDITOR

from youtube

Uploaded by on Jul 15, 2009

The Gosford UFO incident of 1994 where several upstanding and highly credible townsfolk including business owners,policemen,retired academics etc.. witnessed an unknown object taking up water from a lake . . . SOURCE

FBI secretly creates Internet police

from Late Night in the Midlands

Posted by frank blackington on May 26, 2012 at 3:39pm

The FBI was rather public with its recent demands for backdoor access to websites and Internet services across the board, but as the agency awaits those secret surveillance powers, they’re working on their own end to have those e-spy capabilities.

Not much has been revealed about one of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s newest projects, the Domestic Communications Assistance Center, and the FBI will probably try to keep it that way. Despite attempting to keep the DCAC largely under wraps, an investigation spearheaded by Cnet’s Declan McCullagh is quickly collecting details about the agency’s latest endeavor. . . . Read Complete Report

Psywar – The real battlefield is your mind (full video)

from youtube

Uploaded by on Jan 5, 2011

The documentary “Psywar,”
featuring CMD founder John Stauber,
by Metanoia Films — This film explores the evolution of propaganda and public relations in the United States, with an emphasis on the “elitist theory of democracy” and the relationship between war, propaganda and class.  . . . Read complete youtube post