Friday, December 3, 2010

Northern Kentucky lands Noah's Ark park

A full-scale replica of Noah's Ark will be the biggest feature of a creationism-themed amusement park expected to open in 2014 in northern Kentucky, Gov. Steve Beshear announced Wednesday.

The $150 million park will be built by a for-profit group called Ark Encounter LLC, which is partnering with Answers in Genesis, most widely known for its high-tech Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., Beshear said at a Capitol news conference.

Site selection is not decided, he said, but the organizers have options on 800 acres in Grant County off Interstate 15, about 40 miles from the Creation Museum, which is outside Cincinnati, Ohio. The Ark Encounter website says the park will go in the Grant County site.

The park is expected to draw 1.6 million visitors a year, Beshear said, citing a feasibility study by America’s Research Group.

In addition to the full-size ark, the complex will include a walled city, live animal shows, a children’s interactive play area, a replica of the Tower of Babel, a 500-seat special effects theater, an aviary, a journey through biblical history, and a first-century Middle Eastern village.



Ark Encounter says it will pay the bulk of construction costs by raising about $125 million. Answers in Genesis is raising $24.5 million to pay for the Ark replica. The Ark Encounter website shows a $100 donation sponsors a wooden peg; $1,000, a plank; or $5,000, a beam. The website indicated that nearly $113,000 was raised by Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

WE SHOULD START A CAMPAIGN

BRING BACK BARNEY FOR MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 4



WORLD CUP 2018

Russia Wins Vote To Host 2018 World Cup

The England bid had taken over as bookies' favourites in the frantic build-up to the final vote.
But Fifa president Sepp Blatter has delivered a crushing blow to English hopes in Zurich and handed the world's largest country the chance to stage the tournament for the first time.

Confidence had been high among England's delegation - especially after a successful last-minute presentation earlier.

However, internet rumours began leaking out ahead of the announcement that Fifa had taken a different path.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson, part of the 30-strong team in Switzerland, has tweeted: "Extremely disappointing. We had an awesome bid and knockout presentation. Can't quite believe it."

It has also been announced that Qatar will host the 2022 World Cup.

LOL

TODAY'S TOP TIP

IF A MEMBER : of your family suffers with Parkinson's disease, increase their self esteem and sense of worth by making sure they are the first to handle a new bottle of sauce at mealtimes.

THE HOUSES OF THE ROTHSCHILDS - [7] - INCHMERRY HOUSE

It was built in about 1780 as the dower house for Exbury House, the principal residence. In 1912 it was purchased by Lionel de Rothschild, father of the man who has just sold it, Edmund de Rothschild, as part of the small Inchmery Estate. "Mr Lionel" set about designing a garden of grandiose proportions based on Inchmery House, but his great plans for Inchmery Gardens were frustrated by refusal of permission to close a road making an alternative route to Lepe.


The result was that in 1919 he bought the adjoining Exbury Estate and created the gardens, which now enjoy international fame. But Inchmery House remained the Rothschild's family home since then, and was only put on the market because the decision was taken to re-establish Exbury House as the principal family residence."

MY MUSICAL MEMORIES

Little Feat - Willin'

Lowell George met Bill Payne when George was a member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. Payne had auditioned for the Mothers, but had not joined. They formed Little Feat along with former Mothers' bassist Roy Estrada and drummer Richie Hayward from George's previous band, the Factory. The name of the band came from a comment made by Mothers' drummer Jimmy Carl Black about Lowell's "little feet." The spelling of "feat" was an homage to The Beatles.

Zappa was instrumental in getting George and his new band a record contract. When "Willin'" was recorded for the Little Feat album, George hurt his hand in an accident with a model airplane, so Ry Cooder sat in and played the song's slide part. Lowell's accident is referenced on the cover art of the band's 1996 album Under the Radar. "Willin'" was re-recorded (this time with Lowell playing) on Little Feat's second album Sailin' Shoes, which was also the first Little Feat album to include cover art by Neon Park, who had painted the cover for Zappa's Weasels Ripped My Flesh.



While touring in support of his solo album in June 1979, at the age of 34, George was found dead in his hotel room in Arlington, Virginia. An autopsy determined the cause of death was a heart attack, although it is considered likely that George's excess weight, (formerly chronic) drug usage, and the strain of touring contributed to his condition.

Lowell George was respected for his idiosyncratic genius, for crafting sophisticated melodies and lyrics; writing memorable songs, and for his high production standards. He is also remembered for his exuberant, unique slide style, which featured sustained, ringing legato lines.

In August 2009, Richie Hayward announced that he had recently been diagnosed with a severe liver disease and would not be at work indefinitely.[5] A benefit concert was organised [6] and a website created where fans unable to attend could donate towards his treatment costs. Little Feat announced that their drum technician Gabe Ford would take his place.

Hayward married and was living on Vancouver Island B.C., with his liver cancer in remission while waiting on a liver transplant. Sunday July 11, 2010 Little Feat played at Vancouver Island Music Fest, and Hayward was slated to play just a couple of tunes, but once he sat behind his kit, he finished out the night, played fantastic, filling out that Little Feat sound. Hayward had intended to return to the band in the event of recovery but he sadly died on August 12, 2010 from pneumonia and complications from lung disease.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

BELIEVE IT OR DONT

A pregnant 23-year old woman was stabbed 24 times by his attackers, shot once, thrown into deep ravine and left for dead, miraculously survived and lives.


Grace Capistrano, a police informer from Angono, Philippines, crawled to safety upon hearing barking dogs in the area near the place where she was dumped and managed to reach a small hut of a 78-year old farmer Mariano Pelayo about 50 meters away from the place whre she was left for dead.

Capistano, who survived the seven hour ordeal despite her gunshot and stab wounds, knocked at Pelayo's door and asked the 78-year old farmer to bring her to the nearest hospital. It took the old man more than an hour before he could get a public ride to the town police station.

Amazed at how Capistrano survived, he said: “That girl was so strong. She could still walk and talk [despite her wounds], and she was even pregnant. She just asked for three glasses of water,” Pelayo said.

Capistrano was a “witness” to the hulidap rackets (robbery and extortion) of policemen in Rizal, according to Calabarzon police director Chief Superintendent Samuel Pagdilao Jr.

Mariquit is based in the Cainta police station; Natividad was recently assigned to Rizal province from the regional police office.
Laguna police director Cruz quoted reports saying that Capistrano was “an informant of the hulidap.”
The suspects who were apprehended by their fellow policemen were surprised to find out how the victim managed to survived and get back at them.

The suspects who are now detained at the Pagsanjan, Laguna Police Station were charged with abduction and frustrated murder.

Ownership of the Sun Is Claimed By a Woman

After registering it with a local Notary a Spanish woman claims ownership of the sun. The intention on her part is to claim it as her property and charge for usage by others.


The nineteen sixty seven Outer Space Treaty prevents ownership claims of celestial bodies by governments but seems not to cover private individuals. After contacting legal bodies in Spain her opinion was backed by the Notary.

Angeles Duran, 49, from Vigo in Spain's northwestern region of Galicia, applied for ownership of the fiery star at the centre of our solar system after learning that similar claims had been made by an American on the Moon, Mars and Venus.

Miss Duran claims to have had discussions with Spain’s Ministry Of Industry to levy a fee for plants that use the suns energy and convert it to electricity. She has conceived a plan to use percentages from the profits for distribution across Spain. While keeping ten percent of the earnings for her use.

HOW CAN ONE PERSON BE SO WRONG ALL THE TIME ?

Either way, Palin is wrong on the Wikileaks issue


Sarah Palin’s recent declarations on Wikileaks and the Obama administration show that she is apparently unaware of the facts, but could she really that uninformed ?



The Pentagon and other US government agencies have been looking to find ways of prosecuting Wikileaks founder Julian Assange or Wikileaks itself, but apart from the fact that doing so is proving to be extremely difficult in legal terms, any prosecution of Assange would also threaten press freedoms.

Sarah Palin, like some other politicians, sometimes waits to see what others are saying before coming up with her own opinions on major issues because usually her knowledge of the finer points involved isn’t too strong.

Her point of view is this. She says that the government has mishandled the situation and that the Wikileaks releases raise “serious questions about the Obama administration’s incompetent handling of this whole fiasco." She also says that the Obama administration should have acted earlier to stop Assange putting the documents online but did not do so.

She goes on to say that "Assange is not a 'journalist,' any more than the 'editor' of al Qaeda’s new English-language magazine Inspire is a 'journalist, he is an anti-American operative with blood on his hands.”

Her words display an apparent lack of understanding of the complex issues involved which should not be taken lightly because Palin is a potential presidential candidate and that makes what she has to say all the more noteworthy.

Firstly, concerning the very idea of prosecuting Assange and/or Wikileaks, the Supreme Court’s judgment in the 1971 Pentagon Papers case is well worth reading because it can be interpreted as being of jurisdictional importance. The Supreme Court said that there were insufficient reasons to stop the papers’ publication by the New York Times even though Daniel Ellsberg procured them by using illegal means. The court said that the government’s general claims of national security interests being at risk were not strong enough to warrant an injunction. This has generally been interpreted to mean that a government would need to prove that a characterized and particularized specific risk existed, that which does not seem to be the case for Wikipedia or Assange. No specific military operations have been put at risk and that is one of the reasons why no steps have been taken to prosecute Assange so far. There simply are too many legal problems as things stand. But Palin seems to be feigning to not know that.

There is also a problem behind her assertion that "Assange is not a 'journalist…” That may or may not be true, but even if is true, that in itself brings up another problem. Wikileaks is not configured like a traditional newspaper and it cannot be subjected to the kind of demands that are put on the press to minimize the publication of material which may threaten national security such as Britain’s DA-Notices (Defense Advisory Notices.) Not only that, Assange has agreed not to repeat his earlier mistake of publishing names if doing so would constitute a risk to those people’s lives, thus cooperating more in an effort not to become the subject of prosecution. And as Wikileaks is not based in the USA it would be difficult to pin him down in legal terms in an American court.

There is the question of his nationality too. He is Australian, not American. Despite what Palin says, Assange is not a terrorist acting against the USA. He may be a major thorn in the administration’s side but that would not be enough to get a court to agree to him being brought to the United States against his will. And even if the USA wanted him to be extradited I doubt that the extradition laws in many countries would allow it.

Although Palin appears to be convinced that Obama’s administration has neglected its duty, American government legal experts are aware of the actual problems, which is why they have been trying to find ways of having Assange charged for months, although they haven’t yet filed charges against him. There may even be moves afoot to change existing law, which was manifestly not conceived with Internet-based whistleblowers in mind. But that would not contain a retroactive element which could be applied to Wikileaks.

Finally, and most importantly, there is the issue of press freedom. Prosecuting Assange would represent a radical change in the American approach to free speech and the First Amendment. Journalists and newspapers are rarely if ever prosecuted in America and that is how it should be. It could be argued, and indeed I did argue in a recent article, that Assange’s actions are irresponsible. I am no fan of Assange’s way of going about his business, the secrecy which shrouds his organization – secrecy which is the antithesis of what quality journalism should be – or his paranoid and domineering personality.

But prosecuting him would be a disaster for freedom of speech. You don’t have to like Assange to realize that there are no real grounds for prosecuting him today and that any attempt to do so would pave the way for future abuses of press and personal freedoms.

Is Sarah Palin aware of the enormous difficulties facing any attempts to prosecute Julian Assange and their implications for civil liberties? If she is, then she is cynically using the issue in order to score cheap political points by making declarations and demands she knows have no possibility of being followed up in the real world. And if she is not aware of the issues, serious questions need to be asked about her ability to run a hamburger stand, never mind a country.

DID YOU KNOW ................

Jamie Carragher has scored more goals for Tottenham than he has for Liverpool during his career.

That is a fact. The more observant among you will note that Carragher has never actually played for Spurs, which is also correct — and also underlines just how many own goals the versatile defender has managed to accrue during the course of his career.


Nearing retirement, however, it is nice to see there could be someone ready to fill his role at Anfield. Martin Skrtel opened the scoring on Sunday against Spurs, and then proceeded to make sure he evened things up at the other end with an own goal that Carra would have been more than proud of.

It will take some time for the Slovakian to reach the same level of efficiency, but it is nice to see he's already on the right track.

TOP OF THE LEAGUE

Chelsea top poll for player community activities

Chelsea Football Clubs players took part in more community and charity activities than any other Premier League Club last season - topping a poll conducted by the Professional Footballer Association. For the second time in three years the Chelsea squad has come first in the PFA survey having taken part in 1,145 activities throughout the 2009/10 season 465 more than the second-placed club and almost three times the league average.

Chelsea Captain and PFA representative John Terry was delighted to top the poll again: Everyone at the club knows how important it is to put to something back into our communities at home and abroad. All the players take our role extremely seriously and its great this work has been recognised again. We all love seeing the kids in their schools, down at the training ground or meeting them in the dressing room and tunnel after the game its very humbling to hear their stories and were proud to be able to help.

As well as working with two charity partners Help a London Child on a national level and internationally with Right To Play, the club recently launched our first community day at the Cobham training ground for seriously and terminally ill youngsters. Chelsea also run our unique matchday wishes programme at home Premier League games where young fans often with terminal illnesses are welcomed into the tunnel after matches to meet the players.

PFA Chief Executive, Gordon Taylor OBE welcomed the results: Players get a lot of criticism, much of it undeserved. These figures show just how much they put back in their community and how involved they are in the clubs Corporate Social Responsibility activities. The PFA congratulate Chelsea once again for their outstanding community activities and in-particular the players for their commitment to supporting this vital area of their work.

The Cobham training ground also welcomes a host of charities including the Princes Trust, Help for Heroes, Willow Foundation and participants on the wide range of Chelsea Foundation activities.

Chelsea invest more than £5m into CSR activities every season and directly over £1m for charity every year. Through one of the most wide-ranging community programmes in the world of sport almost one million young people are engaged through Chelsea programmes. The club recently launched our own charity the Chelsea Foundation to oversee the clubs award-winning community, education and CSR work.

COOKING : SOPRANO STYLE

.... and Gordon Ramsey can bite my gabagool

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN - 1

TODAYS JOKE




I bought a christmas tree today and the shop assistant asked me .......................
"are you going to put it up yourself sir?" to which i replied "No , its going up in the living room you filthy little trollop"


I'll get me coat

XMAS GIFTS

TRY EBAY


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