Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

Juanita Bermúdez, the director of the Códice Gallery, stated that the animal was fed regularly and was only tied up for three hours on one day before it escaped.[6][7] Vargas himself refused to comment on the fate of the dog,[7][5] but noted that no one tried to free the dog, give it food, call the police, or do anything for the dog.[5] Vargas stated that the exhibit and the surrounding controversy highlight people's hypocrisy because no one cares about a dog that starves to death in the street.[5] In an interview with El Tiempo, Vargas explained that he was inspired by the death of Natividad Canda, an indigent Nicaraguan addict, who was killed by two Rottweilers in Cartago Province, Costa Rica, while being filmed by the news media in the presence of police, firefighters, and security guards.[10] Upon conducting a probe, the Humane Society of the United States was informed that the dog was in a state of starvation when it was captured and escaped after one day of captivity; however, the organization also categorically condemned "the use of live animals in exhibits such as this." [11] The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) also investigated the exhibit.[8] WSPA found the information regarding the issue to be "inconsistent" and met with sponsors of the Honduras Bienal to ensure that no animals would be abused at the 2008 exhibition in that country. [8]

The nation of Japan was probably born of the union of two peoples: one from Polynesia or the Malay Peninsula and one from elsewhere in Asia.

About 300 BC, the Japanese began growing rice, which would become the nation's agricultural staple.

From the 500s to the 700s, Japanese society developed quickly—partly because of its close relationship with neighboring China and the magnificent Tang Dynasty.

A man who calls himself an artist ties a dog to a wall inside an art gallery. No, you heard me correctly - we're not talking about the night janitor who caught the starving animal littering the front steps of the gallery and decided to vent a lifetime of frustration by pulling off a ridiculously cruel stunt. We're talking about a man who calls himself an artist. His name is Guillermo Vargas Habacuc and the year is 2007. Guillermo is one of the artists taking part in an art exhibition that takes place at a Costa Rican gallery - pompously called "Centro Nacional de la Cultura" (National Center for Culture). He pays a bunch of kids to catch the street dog, which he cruelly baptizes "Natividad" (Spanish for "birth"). His aim is to make an artistic statement about the fragility and the misery in which all dogs - indeed, all human beings live, and he achieved just that by letting the dog starve to death tied to a wall, in plain view of the exhibition visitors, some of whom demanded futilely that the dog be released.

Eventhough parachutes seem to have been used in China since the 1100s and that Leonardo da Vinci of Italy had invented devices similar to parachutes nowadays, worldwide skydivers state that the French inventor André-Jacques Garnerin is the one to make the first parachute. In 1797 he jumped from a balloon over Paris using a parachute and kept on making other jumps in France and also in England.

In World War I , that is between 1914 and 1918, the military began using parachutes in their missions

We can trace this historic American Christian tradition to the year 1623. After the harvest crops were gathered in November 1623, Governor William Bradford of the 1620 Pilgrim Colony, "Plymouth Plantation" in Plymouth, Massachusetts proclaimed: "All ye Pilgrims with your wives and little ones, do gather at the Meeting House, on the hill… there to listen to the pastor, and render Thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings."

Thursday, the 19th day of February, 1795 was thus set aside by George Washington as a National Day of Thanksgiving. Many years later, on October 3, 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, by Act of Congress, an annual National Day of Thanksgiving "on the last Thursday of November, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens." In this Thanksgiving proclamation, our 16th President says that it is…

So it is that on Thanksgiving Day each year, Americans give thanks to Almighty God for all His blessings and mercies toward us throughout the year.

Looks like a pillar of iTunes content might be on the brink of collapse -- Universal Music, the world's largest music business, has officially opted not to renew its contract with Apple for vending music on the iTunes Music Store. We don't know specifically what caused Universal to turn away -- perhaps it's the weight of the rising anti-DRM movement among consumers, or perhaps it's because of Stevie J.'s brash negotiating tactics, continual refusal to hand over iPod cash, or oceanic persistence in keeping tracks locked in at $0.99. Whatever the reason, we can't say we're all that surprised; Universal's been a pain in Apple's ass for years now. So what's the end result? Well, Universal music will still be sold through iTunes at will, so that means consumers can keep buying tracks for the time being, but Apple runs the risk of losing Universal's content on very short notice if the companies don't make happy with one another and put pen to paper once more.

Japan entered into its second major prehistoric period, a civilized era known as the Yayoi period.

he name Yayoi is derived from an area Tokyo known as Yayoi, where the first documented pottery from this period was discovered in an archaeological excavation in 1884.

ron and bronze materials are believed to have been exchanged with Japanese envoys either for token tributes or prisoners of war.

"It's cheap to buy used discs. . . . They sound just the same as new ones,"

Amazon.com

The industry worries that the expanding used market is cannibalizing new-CD sales, as well as promoting piracy by allowing consumers to buy, record and sell back discs while retaining their own digitally pristine copies.

t is a basic notion that during the 1600's, accurately in the year 1621, the English settlers and the Wampanoag Indians got together and shared a fantastic fall harvest feast to celebrate the bounty from the rich earth. Today this celebratory feast is acknowledged to be one of the first Thanksgiving festivities in the early days of the colonies. While that long ago feast is supposed by a lot of people to be the first Thanksgiving celebration, it was, in fact, part of a long existing custom of celebrating the seasonal harvest and giving thanks for a good bounty of crops that would last through the long hard winter. Many Native American tribes of what would be named America, including the Pueblo, Cherokee, Shawnee, Huron, Creek, Blackfoot and so many others would hold huge harvest festivals, consisting in ceremonial dances, races, games and other cheerful celebrations of gratefulness hundreds of years before the European peoples arrived. If you are like me, you are surely wondering the kind of meals served at the harvest feast. Historians, as usual, are not one hundred percent sure regarding it; however they are sure that pilgrims weren't eating pumpkin pies nor building castle towers with mashed potatoes. However, it is easy to think that the list of meat available during this period of time should surely include venison as well as several types wild poultry such as duck, goose as well as wild turkey. While there are hundreds of manuscripts describing such feast, the most detailed description of this celebration of late harvest date of 1621 and was written by a man called Edward Winslow. It is from his manuscript called "A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth" that historians have gleaned the greatest part of information about this first Thanksgiving celebration:

Although the first Thanksgiving dinners were not concentrated on the turkey; today's usual meal primarily focuses around this animal. During the 17th century, vegetables were not as important as of today, so the meal of this period of time included a lot of different meats. The many types of vegetables we take for granted today were not available to the colonists. Freezing methods did not exist; which means that the vegetable consumption was based on seasonal harvests. Because the colonists and Wampanoag tribe had no refrigeration in the 1600s, they dried a lot of their foods to preserve them. They would dry corn, wild boar hams, fish, venison, and many wild herbs.

A deadly toxin, arsenic is known for its ability to end life.

Since the 1990s, scientists have discovered about 20 species of bizarre bacteria that "breathe" arsenic.

They are typically found in environments where oxygen is scarce and have been forced to survive on whatever strange substance is easily available.

Worldwide sales of music CDs, records and cassettes fell for the third year in a row

rising Internet piracy in the United States,

7 percent drop in global music sales

China in particular has long argued that it is too poor to afford the Western luxury of environmental awareness.

China ranks last among 15 nations in its income group (the fifth decile), behind Vietnam. If Colombia, the group's leader, can afford environmental concern, why can't China?

China fares slightly better in protecting its habitat but much worse in measures of industrial ills.

According to the American College Dictionary, pollution is defined as:  �to make foul or unclean; dirty.

When it is unfit for its intended use, water is considered polluted.

Point sources of pollution occur when harmful substances are emitted directly into a body of water.

The Pilgrims were English Separatists. In the first years of the 17th century, small numbers of English Puritans broke away from the Church of England because they felt that it had not completed the work of the Reformation. They committed themselves to a life based on the Bible. Most of these Separatists were farmers, poorly educated and without social or political standing. one of the Separatist congregations was led by William Brewster and the Rev. Richard Clifton in the village of Scrooby in Nottinghamshire. The Scrooby group emigrated to Amsterdam in 1608 to escape harassment and religious persecution. The next year they moved to Leiden, in Holland where, enjoying full religious freedom, they remained for almost 12 years. In 1617, discouraged by economic difficulties, the pervasive Dutch influence on their children, and their inability to secure civil autonomy, the congregation voted to emigrate to America. Through the Brewster family's friendship with Sir Edwin Sandys, treasurer of the London Company, the congregation secured two patents authorizing them to settle in the northern part of the company's jurisdiction. Unable to finance the costs of the emigration with their own meager resources, they negotiated a financial agreement with Thomas Weston, a prominent London iron merchant. Fewer than half of the group's members elected to leave Leiden. A small ship, the Speedwell, carried them to Southampton, England, where they were to join another group of Separatists and pick up a second ship. After some delays and disputes, the voyagers regrouped at Plymouth aboard the 180-ton Mayflower. It began its historic voyage on Sept. 16, 1620, with about 102 passengers--fewer than half of them from Leiden.

Founding of New England, The by Adams, J. T., (1921; repr. 1963) Bradford, William, Of Plymouth Plantation: 1620-1647, ed. by Samuel E. Morison (1952) Mayflower, The (1974) by Caffrey, Kate Mayflower Pilgrims, The by Colloms, Brenda (1977) Land Ho!--1620 by Nickerson, W. S. (1931). A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony by Demos, John (1988) Pilgrims, The by Dillon, Francis (1975) Mayflower Remembered: A History of the Plymouth Pilgrims by Gill, Crispin (1970) Saga of the Pilgrims by Harris, J.(1990) Pilgrim's Own Story, The by Notson, A.W., and R.C., eds., Stepping Stones: (1987) Pilgrim Fathers from a Dutch Point of View by Plooij, D.(1932; repr. 1970) Bradford of Plymouth by Smith, Bradford (1951) Pilgrims and Their History by Usher, R. G. (1918) Pilgrim Reader (1953) and Saints and Strangers: Pilgrim Fathers, The by Willison, G. F. rev. ed. (1965). Pilgrim Colony: A History of New Plymouth, 1620-1691 by Langdon, G. D., Jr. (1966) Story of the Old Colony of New Plymouth, The by Morison, S. E. (1956); Plymouth Colony: Its History and People by Stratton, E.A. (1987)

Interestingly enough, stock prices suggest the opposite. We haven't sold off like this since the Depression. Even during the inflation crisis of the 1970's, the most we ever sold off was 17%. Being down 40% on the year must be very scary for market bears. Everyone wants to tell you that valuations don't matter but I have a secret for you - they do. It's hard to find a stock with a p/e over 20 anymore. Apple's market cap is down to $79 billion and yet it will have $30 billion in cash on its balance sheet by year end.Apple's not the only one either. Corporate America has never been more fiscally responsible. Record amounts of cash sit on balance sheets across many different sectors. Leverage has been limited to consumers and banks.

Outstanding credit card debt sits at $971 billion for the United States. This amounts to approximately $3,000 per person. This problem is nowhere near the problems that we were faced with earlier in the year in the financial sector. Government stimulus can easily fix the problem of consumer leverage. With a shot of confidence, the consumer will prove resilient once again.

Way to stereotype people. One of my friends listens to rap, and he doesn't dress, nor sounds like a jock. I listen to metal; 1. I dOn't skate and 2. I dOn't have lOng hair. To the point of this thread: I believe some rap is bad influence, but most of the bad influence comes from media. I was at an appointment, and I see this One kid sitting next to me. He has a toy gun, and he was pointing at some people in frOnt of us. The thing was that he had the toy in his left hand, stuck out his left arm, put the gun sideways Onto his left arms wrist. That's how the people in the movies do it, as if they were in a gang. The kid was Only 5 years old - what the mother said when she was talking to the clerk. Anyways, I wouldn't think the majority of the kids who listen to music, listen to screamo, emo, etc. because it's quite obvious; it's not music to them. So I wouldn't vote for screamo, emo. The Ones who listen to that are mostly, if not always teenagers+.

The conventional and traditional fuel sources are becoming more and more expensive to extract and their indiscriminate use in the past century has resulted in their depletion.

natural fuel sources will reach critically low levels and precipitate a crisis much earlier than we think.

promising discoveries

Every two years as the Olympic Games begin, we hear about athletes using or at least being tested for performance-enhancing drugs. Every time the Tour de France rolls around, there's talk of possible doping. Sometimes, competitors raise the question when one athlete does particularly well. Other times, tests catch athletes with drugs in their systems. The practice of using artificial substances or methods to enhance athletic performance is called doping. Doping has become such a great concern that the United States formed an Anti-Doping Agency.

Why Some Athletes Use DrugsAthletes face enormous pressure to excel in competition. They also know that winning can reap them more than a gold medal. A star athlete can earn a lot of money and a lot of fame, and athletes only have a short time to do their best work. Athletes know that training is the best path to victory, but they also get the message that some drugs and other practices can boost their efforts and give them a shortcut, even as they risk their health and their athletic careers.

As far back as ancient Greece, athletes have often been willing to take any preparation that would improve their performance. But it appears that drug use increased in the 1960s. one well-publicized incident happened at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 when sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for anabolic steroids and was stripped of his gold medal. Athletes may also misuse drugs to relax, cope with stress or boost their own confidence. Athletes may have several reasons for using performance-enhancing drugs. An athlete may want to: Build mass and strength of muscles and/or bones Increase delivery of oxygen to exercising tissues Mask pain Stimulate the body Relax Reduce weight Hide use of other drugs