Survey after survey shows that whether you measure your productivity in facts researched, alien spaceships vaporized or articles written, adding an extra monitor will considerably raise your output - 20 percent to 30 percent, according to a survey by Jon Peddie Research.

Multitaskers find that a 2nd monitor beats Alt-Tab - Technology - International Herald Tribune

The US Census Bureau, due to issues related to the separation of church and state, does not ask questions related to faith or religion on the decennial census. Accordingly, there are few sources of comprehensive data on church membership and religious affiliation for the United States. Perhaps the leading organization to address this gap is the Glenmary Research Center, which publishes Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States, 2000. The following series of county-level choropleth maps, which reveals the distribution of the larger and more regionally concentrated church bodies, draws on this resource. The maps are in GIF format.

Wonder where all the pagans are? I know there are a ton around here and they don't all identify themselves as Unitarians. Also, where are the Hindus?

Map Gallery of Religion in the United States

"Domestic violence shelter directors say the state is increasingly taking children away from women who have done nothing more than move to a shelter to escape a violent home...

...Thomas said the domestic violence professionals on her staff agreed that the Cabinet removals were appropriate in only about five of the 50 cases, in which mothers had other problems, such as drug addiction, in addition to domestic violence.

Thomas said she knows of three cases in the 17-county area in which the state found new adoptive families for infants who were taken from domestic violence victims at the hospital immediately after birth."

Mothers in domestic violence shelters face losing their children

"Kentucky's inspector general is investigating complaints that some state child protection officials are using foster children as "bartering items" in an adoption push that a recent report equated to the "black-market selling of children."

Veteran state social workers and other professionals who work with vulnerable families allege that, under federal pressure to increase the number of Kentucky foster children who are adopted, some administrators in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services are inappropriately recommending to courts that the rights of biological parents be terminated."

Report: State unjustly terminates parental rights for federal money

My son loves this site! It is a educational site that offers content for kids - lots of streaming videos, homework help, and brain games that are both educational and fun.

As a parent and homeschool mom with only one child, what I like best about the service is that they've found a way to encourage kids to use it. With my account, I am able to set up 4 children to use the account. In the terms it says these can be friends OR family, so we were able to set up accounts for 3 of my son's best friends.

For every video or activity that the kids engage in, they are awarded points. At certain levels of points, they are able to get games, simulations, screensavers.

Kids LOVE to "Unlock" things, and they love friendly competition.

At 99.00 a year, or 9.95 a month, we think Cosmeo is a good deal.

The search feature makes it particularly good for homeschoolers, especially eclectic homeschoolers or unschoolers.

It may not appeal as much to Classical homeschoolers, as there is very little support for Latin or classical studies.

Still, it is educational fun, and I'm all for that. :-) The streaming and animation are very well done.

Broadband IS a requirement.

Cosmeo.Com offers free 30 day trial

Acidus wrote:
According to Wikipedia:

-85% enriched is considered "weapons grade" and is the minimum purity of the uranium in the US's arsenal.
-20% will create a usable bomb
-3% to 5% is what a light weight nuclear reactor will use. This is most common reactor and what Iran claims it wants to build.
-While the uranium could be placed in a dirty bomb, this would not be the best use. Since dirty bombs simply spread radioactive material, isotopes like Strontium-90 are more effective than Uranium-235

Some useful perspective you won't get from the press...

RE: Iran enriched Uranium to 3.5%

Tons of gnosticism tied to kabalism here. This will probably more more circulated by occultists than Christians.

The treatise that Judas was close to Christ and instrumental in doing the will of God is very reflected in The Last Temptation of Christ. It is no wonder that both were 'banned books.'

In Ancient Document, Judas, Minus the Betrayal - New York Times

Well, well, well. Amidst all the posturing and fist-shaking about who dared to leak the career information about CIA employee Valerie Plame, and the resulting witch hunt, it looks like we've actually found that Bush indeed did happen to "accidentally" release that information to disgrace his political enemies. Libby has now apparently testified that Bush OK'd the release of the oh-so-career-destroying information.

Whodathunkit!

I wonder if perhaps we'll get lucky and Bush will actually follow through with firing the person who leaked this information like he swore he would at a press conference shortly after this witch hunt began, and fire himself and Cheney?

Who let the secrets out! Who! Who-who-who!

Brian J. Doyle, 55, is charged with seven counts of use of a computer to seduce a child and 16 counts of transmission of harmful material to a minor, according to a sheriff's office statement.

On March 12, according to a police statement, Doyle contacted a Polk County computer crimes detective posing online as a 14-year-old girl "and initiated a sexually explicit conversation with her ... Doyle knew that the 'girl' was 14 years old, and he told her who he was and that he worked for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

"Judd said that Doyle, in the first conversation, told the detective his position with DHS and "started immediately into pretty vulgar language. He explained in graphic detail the sexual acts he wanted to perform with this 14-year-old."

As the two continued chatting online, police said, Doyle gave her his home and office phone numbers, and the number to his government-issue cell phone. He also had explicit telephone conversations with a detective posing as the girl, authorities said.

In addition, he used the Internet to send "hard-core pornographic movie clips" to her, and also used an America Online instant-messaging service to have explicit online conversations with her.

Doyle also sent photos of himself that were not sexually explicit, but said he would send nude photos if the "girl" would buy a Web camera and send him nude photos of herself. In one photo, Judd said, Doyle's DHS security tag is clearly visible.

"I read the transcripts," Judd said. "I wanted to see if this was just as outrageous as the detectives depicted it ... It shocked all of us who have worked vice, narcotics, organized crime, homicides."

This is sure to be all over the news today...

While not directly related to this, I've asked this question around lately: "what the hell is DHS doing?" Answers have varied. No one seems to know exactly. Mostly stuff about establishing little fiefdoms and sharing email servers. My favorite comment so far has been "creating new ways to fuck up." Their press center is simply the "Remarks from Michael Chertoff" page. DHS appears to be a black hole.

CNN.com - DHS spokesman arrested in child sex sting - Apr 4, 2006

"A short blond man boarded the train and locked his eyes on her. She felt a jolt of panic as the uptown R accelerated into a tunnel and the man sat down across from her and started rubbing his crotch. Nguyen, 22, was wearing a blouse and long pants, having just come from a job interview in Soho. He unzipped his fly and grinned.

She looked away but could see the man’s increasingly agitated reflection in the pockmarked train window. To avoid eye contact, she reached in her bag and pulled out her camera-equipped cell phone. She turned it on. Turned it off. Thought about the Mace canister she was carrying as she fumbled the phone to the floor. When she sat up, the man had his penis out of his pants.

Just a few feet away, a Japanese tourist couple chatted, oblivious to the goings-on. Nguyen’s Mace was right there, at her fingertips. She thought one more time about using it—then snapped a picture instead."

Subway victim of Flasher EXPOSES pervert with cell phone cam