] The Earth has become significantly greener over the past
] two decades, the result of climate changes that have
] furnished plants with more heat, light, water and carbon
] dioxide, according to a new Science magazine report.
]
] The overall plant bulk went up about 6 percent over much
] of the planet, with spikes in the tropics and high
] latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere accounting for 80
] percent of the gains, researchers said.

Good news. Too bad the rain forests continue to be clear-cut for live stock. :/

Laughing Boy

Climate changes making planet greener

I feel cruel just because I watched this.

Darth Fatty?

] NEW YORK, June 4 %u2014 A grand jury indicted Martha
] Stewart on federal charges of securities fraud and
] obstruction of justice Wednesday in an insider stock
] trading scandal that could bring big fines or even a jail
] term for the home styles guru known for impeccable taste.

Of course now we're hearing stories "Martha is a victim of those jealous of her success!" Right. And if she were black, it would be a "racist witch hunt" yada yada yada. *YAWN* Why is it ALWAYS discrimination with so-called "minorities" when they screw up? It's as if some people think they can do no wrong; that they walk between the rain drops. Hellooo?? Insider trading is ILLEGAL. If she broke the law (and even without phone records of her talking to her broker, the timing of her sell off is a MIGHTY big red flag) then she pays the consequences - just like Joe and Jane Average would. I'm tired of celebrities getting off easy for crimes because they are famous.

Laughing Boy

Martha Stewart indicted

] For those of you who are tired of Washington-based career
] politicians raising millions of dollars from special
] interests, ignoring their day jobs representing their
] consitutuents while they fly around the country to
] fundraisers, debates, and photo-ops, consider the story
] of Michael Badnarik (http://www.badnarik.org):
]
]
] He's running for President because his friends asked him
] to, because they consider him an excellent communicator,
] an expert on the US Constitution, and an honorable man.
] With limited funding, he is driving across the country
] with a buddy, staying with campaign supporters and eating
] $5 meals. To survive, he teaches day-long classes on the
] US Constitution for $50 to anyone who is interested.
]
]
] Coming from nowhere (sorry, Austin, Texas), he is
] currently in a two-man race with a much better funded
] opponent, talk radio host Gary Nolan
] (http://www.garynolan.com) for the Libertarian Party
] nomination in 2004.
]
]
] Does he expect to win? Is he qualified to be President,
] if he does win? Maybe not, but he should make supporters
] of the Republican and Democratic parties wonder why they
] settle for the uninspiring candidates they are offered
] year after year, who appear to neither understand nor
] respect the Constitution they are expected to protect,
] uphold, and defend, if they are elected.

I would laugh until I passed out if this guy won the next election. Maybe he's qualified, maybe he's not - but regardless, it's the kind of campaign I'd love to see make it.

A Different Kind of Campaign

] For sale: what might be one of the Soviet Sputnik
] satellites that ushered in the Space Age and sparked a
] frenzied competition that soon led to the launch of the
] first man into orbit.
]
] As with so many things Russian, the sale, offered online
] by Sovietski.com and eBay Inc. for a starting auction
] price of $25,000, presents a riddle wrapped in a mystery,
] for no one is able to say how many authentic Sputniks
] actually exist.
]
] The Soviet Union launched the original Sputnik, a shiny
] metallic orb with four antennas streaking from the side,
] in 1957, setting off a panic in the United States, which
] feared it was falling behind its Cold War rival.
]
] Amid the secrecy that prevailed at the time, Moscow made
] several back-up models, and since the fall of the Soviet
] Union, some of these have landed in the hands of their
] former adversary on very capitalist terms.
]
] Cathleen Lewis, curator of the Russian and Soviet Space
] collection at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., said
] experts believe Moscow originally made four back-up
] Sputniks. Yet far more than four Sputniks are now in
] circulation.
]
] The original 183-pound (83 kilo) Sputnik burned up when
] it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.
]
] "There is so little documentation and accountability. We
] just don't know what it is," she said of the latest sale.

Cool if its the genuine article

CNN.com - Missing Sputnik may be for sale on eBay - Jun. 4, 2003

] Joel Freedman grew upset at seeing lobsters, with rubber
] bands on their claws, piled atop one another in a
] supermarket tank. The animal-rights advocate figured it
] was time to make his anger known.
]
] Freedman bought a pound of scallops and, before anyone
] could intervene, lifted the tank lid and dumped them in.

What a waste of perfectly good scallops.

Yahoo! News - Man Feeds Lobsters at Supermarket

] ALBANY, N.Y. (Reuters) - With the widely anticipated
] computer-animated movie "Finding Nemo" set to debut in
] theaters on Friday, the Walt Disney Co. has found a novel
] way to guard against people illegally taping the film in
] advance showings.

Now if only they knew that the REALLY good bootlegs were an "inside job" by someone with access to the actual print (read - projectionist).

Yahoo! News - Disney Uses Night Goggles to Guard 'Nemo'

] As President Bush plunges into Middle East diplomacy, a
] survey of 20 nations and the Palestinian Authority shows
] widespread distrust of his leadership, skepticism in the
] region about his plan for peace and less regard for the
] United States around the world.
]
] The survey, sponsored by the non-partisan Pew Research
] Center, found that feelings in Muslim countries were
] particularly inflamed in the wake of the war with Iraq.
] In seven of eight Muslim countries, majorities said they
] feared a U.S. military invasion.
]
] In Indonesia, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority,
] majorities said they had confidence in Osama bin Laden to
] "do the right thing in world affairs." Nearly half of
] those in Morocco and Pakistan agreed.

bin Laden is an "ambassador" to these people? Nice going Shrub. Could you please undermine what little respect we have left in the world some more please?

Survey: World support for U.S. at new low

] Man of the moment Keanu Reeves has shown his generosity
] by giving away £50 million of his earnings from the
] Matrix sequels. The 38-year-old decided to hand over the
] money to the unsung heroes of the sci-fi blockbusters -
] the costume and special effects teams.

He may not come off as the sharpest crayon in the box, but he really does seem like a genuinely nice guy.

Whoa!

] The arrest of alleged Olympic bomber Eric Robert Rudolph
] may finally allow authorities to answer a question that
] has loomed since the beginning of the five-year hunt for
] him, but that has taken on deeper resonance since Sept.
] 11, 2001: Is he a "Christian terrorist"?

Ooh, I bet that phrase will raise some hackles in the Christian communities.

Was Rudolph%u2019s religion a factor?