From Denny: I find these all over the place while surfing the net. Many were poached from StumbleUpon who poached them from Photobucket who poached them from flickr who poached them from... you get the idea. :) If anyone knows the original photographers or designers, send me an email with attribution and I'll be glad to attach credit where credit is due.
The Walt Whitman quote is one I really enjoyed and especially the photoshop one with Churchill and Hitler was clever. Which ones are your favs?
Which ones were your favs?
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From Denny: This news will get you wondering how to safeguard yourself. There are so many contaminates in the air, the soil and the oceans that it is migrating into our food supply. Dr. Oz talks about mercury and pesticides as a promotion for a full length show he devotes to the safety of our food supply. He also provides healthy diet tips.
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From Denny: On the Richter scale this earthquake was a hugely powerful "7." What does that mean in explosive power of Mother Nature? Try 35 times more powerful than one atom bomb. The quake lasted a long full minute when most quakes last only a few seconds. This is why there is so much devastation.
There is a long lateral fault that runs through Haiti and scientists had warned the country they were at risk for a huge earthquake. It has been 200 years since the country experienced this scale of disaster and this type of magnitude quake tends to run in 200 - 250 year cycles according to geologists.
This one shows diagrams of the underlying seismic plates and how they interacted along the fault line of about 40 miles running laterally through the country to create so much damage.
From CBS: About 90 percent of the world's earthquakes strike inside the "ring of fire," which is a 25,000 mile stretch of ocean trenches and volcanoes. Haiti's earthquake was rare, but expected.
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From Denny: This has been an interesting week. The State of the Union address by President Obama basically summed up how the Republicans have been screwing over the entire country in every aspect of our lives and how much fun the Republicans have had screwing over Prez Obama at every turn while he continues to be inclusive and gracious to them.
Let's see, then our very own highest court in the land decided toscrew overthe American people by letting loose the floodgates of the greedy Big Business monopolies to fund elections and completely control the politicians elected. Granted, the corrupt basically control most of the politicians, all of the Republicans and far too many of the Democrats.
And the most recent group to get screwed over? The print publishing industry. Those adorable hold-in-your-hand books may soon be no more. Why anyone is shocked is the surprise. Come on; we all grew up on Star Trek and Sy-Fy spin-off shows where they featured hand-held computers and digital books decades before computers were any smaller than a football field, filling whole cavernous rooms like over at NASA. Of course, comparing Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, to God is a bit of a stretch - OK, it's downright creepy. :)
Take a look and chuckle for the day at how the cartoonists responded to this week's news stories:
For more fun political cartoon posts like this please visit The Social Poets every Saturday!
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From Denny: The outpouring of donations worldwide for the relief of suffering in Haiti following a 7.0 devastating earthquake is incredible. The following are a list of 67 well-known established charities to which you can donate safely.
The Mobile Giving Foundation has received over $30 million in text pledges from cell phone donors the past two weeks. Even the Pew Research Center was well impressed and threw out some statistics:
14% donated by text message 12% donated by phone 23% donated via the web 5% donated via email 39% donated in person via a church or other group
Here's something I doubt any of us thought about when we donated by text message or phone: how long will it take for the phone companies to send out that donation? Turns out it can take from 30, even up to 60 days to transfer customers' contributions, which is then added to the mobile phone bills.
The biggest carriers like Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have all decided to expedite those donations.
Here's each company's status:
Verizon Wireless: Last Friday, 22 January, they transferred $2.98 million. Today, 28 January, they transferred $4.84 million. Jeffrey Nelson declared the campaign "the largest outpouring of charitable support by texting in history — by far. In all of 2009, all mobile giving (via texting) to all charities totaled just under $4 million for the year."
AT&T: Donations are up to $10 million. The company says they will "advance payment of verified texted donations" to the Red Cross.
Sprint: Donations so far are $3.1 million. By Friday, 29 January, they will advance 80% of the donations with the remaining 20% placed into the usual 30 to 90 day settlement cycle.
T-Mobile: They are working hard to expedite on a weekly basis.
"HAITI" 90999 American Red Cross $10 "QUAKE" 20222 Clinton Bush Haiti Fund $10 "GIVE" 25383 MTV telethon $10 "HAITI" 25383 International Rescue Committee $5 "HAITI" 85944 International Medical Corps $10
"YELE" 501501 Yele Haiti foundation $5 "HAITI" 52000 The Salvation Army $10 "HOPE10" or "UNICEF" 20222 UNICEF $10 "HABITAT" 25383 Habitat for Humanity $10 "OXFAM" 25383 Oxfam America, Inc $10
"HAITI" 40579 National Religious Broadcasters $10 "SAVE" or "SAFE" 20222 Save the Children Federation $10 "GIVE" or "WORLD" 20222 World Vision, Inc $10 "CARE" 24383 CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc) $10 "AJWS" 25383 American Jewish World Service $10
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From Denny: A few years before the disaster struck in Haiti, American Brad Johnson decided to move there and help the people in his parents' ongoing Christian mission to Haiti. He was in a unique position to help after the earthquake as he already had an established school, an orphanage and a medical clinic operating, along with plenty of supplies. His mission is just outside of Port-au-Prince. He is busy distributing supplies to survivors and has been within hours of when the disaster hit.
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From Denny: Finally, a happier story of triumph as a woman named Jeanette was pulled from the damaged building in strong health with minor injuries and dehydration after six days pinned down. This is an awesome story of her faith in God and her determination to survive to be reunited with her husband.
Of course, with any horrific disaster it helps to focus upon the positive. Nothing is more positive and heart-warming than the birthing of a new life. How fortunate this young mother was to have an entire USS Navy ship at her beck and call. The crew is all smiles to be a part of something so life affirming. Can you guess the new baby boy's name? Yes, it's Vinson, in honor of the ship and crew.
The ship is about 17 miles out from the shore of Haiti. They have been taking in any and all injured discovered on the streets of Haiti by U.S. troops. They were the closest American ship in the area and the first to arrive after the disaster.
Can you imagine being pregnant and deep in labor right after an earthquake? The things that had to be going through her mind as she was getting ready to birth her baby. Luck had it she was found by American troops who quickly transported her to the ship to deliver her baby safely.
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