Newsvine - Police Apologize, Drop Charge Vs. Sheehan: "Capitol Police dropped a charge of unlawful conduct against anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on Wednesday and apologized for ejecting her and a congressman's wife from President Bush's State of the Union address for wearing T-shirts with war messages."

"The officers made a good faith, but mistaken effort to enforce an old unwritten interpretation of the prohibitions about demonstrating in the Capitol," Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said in a statement late Wednesday.

"The policy and procedures were too vague," he added. "The failure to adequately prepare the officers is mine."

The extraordinary statement came a day after police removed Sheehan and Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young, R-Fla., from the visitors gallery Tuesday night. Sheehan was taken away in handcuffs before Bush's arrival at the Capitol and charged with a misdemeanor, while Young left the gallery and therefore was not arrested, Gainer said.

U.S. details tax breaks for hybrid cars: "Treasury Secretary John Snow on Friday (Jan. 13) announced the issuance of guidance regarding the tax credits for hybrid vehicles.

The credit, which was enacted by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, may be as much as $3,400 for those who purchase the most fuel-efficient vehicles."

OPENPHOTOPROJECT

Other sites for free photos:

stockcache
High Resolution Free Photos

Entering the Past Vintage Pixels is a large database of historical, high quality, royalty-free images which allows people to share their archived photos. You can download images for print, or use in graphic design, as well upload images to add to the ever growing album of vintage images. The best part - it's all free!

USDA PhotosThe Image Gallery is provided as a complimentary source of high quality digital photographs available from the Agricultural Research Service Information Staff.

a repository for public domain (free for any use) images


bigfoto.com
, the royalty free photo agency offering free use of all pictures

Cepolina

The photo archive at Gimp-Savvy.com has more than 27,000 free photos and images, consisting of over 2.5 Gbytes of data.
The images and photos found in this archive come from three main sources: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

BrainFuel » Boot up Windows before you even log in: "If you don’t use any Windows XP login security, then you can skip this article. Otherwise, if you are like many Windows XP users who have to enter a password every time their computer sluggishly boots up, then read this!

Ok. Here’s the scenario:

You have to wait 2 minutes while your computer turns on. You have to sit in front of your computer during this whole time because once it finally gets to the login screen, you have to type in the password. The computer then crunches numbers for another 2 minutes while it loads a wide variety of programs (MSN messenger, your Norton Antivirus, your Microsoft Office shortcut bar, etc…). Finally, after like 5 minutes, you have access to your desktop.

How would you like your computer to load all those programs *before* you ever have to enter your password? You could press the button to power up your system and go get a cup of coffee. Five minutes later, you come to your desk and type in your password. BAM! Instantly dropped to the desktop! Your programs are already running and all systems are a go!

Here’s how to do it:

1. Download Microsoft’s free TweakUI tool and install it.
2. Click your Start button, go to your Programs menu, and select Tweak UI from the “Powertoys for Windows XP” folder.
3. In the TweakUI window, double-click the “Logon” item in the left-hand column to expand it.
4. Click on the “Autologon” item underneath the “Logon” section.
5. Check the box that says “Log on automatically at system startup”
6. Click the “Set Password” button and enter in your windows login password
7. Click OK and close Tweak UI.
8. Download this .reg file and run it. When it asks you if you want to merge it with your registry, choose “Yes”.

NOTE: If you feel queasy about merging a reg file with your registry, you can also add it by hand. Go to Start > Run and type in “regedit” and press OK. Browse to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run] and create a new String Value. Name it “Lock Computer on Startup“, and set the value to “rundll32.exe user32.dll, LockWorkStation“

Presto! You’re done!

Home - CAElinux: "Based on the open-source CAE softwares Salomé & Code_Aster, you can load STEP / IGES geometry in Salomé and start partitionning and meshing your problem in just 5 minutes. Then you can simulate incredibly complexe physics with the ISO 9001 certified FE solver Code_Aster: non-linear thermo-mechanics, coupled fluid-structure dynamics, sismic / non-linear explicit dynamics, contacts, visco-plasticity, in other words all that you could imagine can be simulated with Code_Aster!! Then reload your results files in Salomé to post-process your data in 3D... And don't forget all these features are based on open-source / free softwares, so now you don't have to pay for excessively expensive licenses."

Ubuntu How-To Install: GPartEd, LaTeX, Java, JEdit, gvim, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Flash player, codecs, and so many other interesting things.

welcome home : vim online: "Vim is a highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing. It is an improved version of the vi editor distributed with most UNIX systems. Vim is distributed free as charityware."

HOW TO: Using Performancing for Firefox | Performancing.com

Something that I want to FORGET about my president: "Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."
That's what he said on September 2, 2005!!!
Did Trent Lott rebuild his house?

Left I on the News: "'Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter charged Monday that the reason Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi stepped down earlier this month was the growing scandal surrounding the use of uranium munitions in the Iraq War.

'Writing in Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter No. 169, Arthur N. Bernklau, executive director of Veterans for Constitutional Law in New York, stated, 'The real reason for Mr. Principi's departure was really never given, however a special report published by eminent scientist Leuren Moret naming depleted uranium as the definitive cause of the 'Gulf War Syndrome' has fed a growing scandal about the continued use of uranium munitions by the US Military.'

'Bernklau continued, 'This malady (from uranium munitions), that thousands of our military have suffered and died from, has finally been identified as the cause of this sickness, eliminating the guessing. The terrible truth is now being revealed.'

'He added, 'Out of the 580,400 soldiers who served in GW1 (the first Gulf War), of them, 11,000 are now dead! By the year 2000, there were 325,000 on Permanent Medical Disability. This astounding number of 'Disabled Vets' means that a decade later, 56% of those soldiers who served have some form of permanent medical problems!' The disability rate for the wars of the last century was 5 percent; it was higher, 10 percent, in Viet Nam.

'The VA Secretary (Principi) was aware of this fact as far back as 2000,' wrote Bernklau. 'He, and the Bush administration have been hiding these facts, but now, thanks to Moret's report, (it) ... is far too big to hide or to cover up!''"

Brazil's coffee industry has brewed up a plan to serve up to 1 million schoolchildren a free breakfast -- complete with a cup of java.

Brazil's Coffee Industry Association (Abic) is seeking the support of 50 roasters to launch a pilot "Adopt-a-School" program to feed breakfast to 1 million Brazilian school children aged 6 to 18.

Under the plan, a coffee roaster would adopt a school of at least 500 children and provide them with a free breakfast of coffee, milk and bread. The annual cost of the program for each school is estimated at 33,500 reais ($15,000).

"Kids have soft drinks at school. ... Why not coffee instead to make them alert and attentive?" Professor Darcy Lima, project scientific adviser, told the association's annual conference in northeast Brazil.
"It's normal here. The project looks like a good idea."

There is a news that it has been found a document in Iran by IAEA that one European diplamat described as a "cookbook" for the the enriched uranium core of a nuclear weapon. The document has been seen by Reuters and it is "on the casting and machining of enriched, natural and depleted uranium into hemispherical forms".
But a U.S. nuclear expert, David Albright of the Institute for Science and International security, said it was far from a step-by-step guide to producing a bomb core.

CNN.com - 'Can I quit now?' FEMA chief wrote as Katrina raged - Nov 3, 2005: "Rep. Charlie Melancon, whose district south of New Orleans was devastated by the hurricane, posted a sampling of e-mails written by Federal Emergency Management chief Michael Brown on his Web site on Wednesday.
The Democratic lawmaker cited several e-mails that he said show Brown's failures. In one, as employees looked for direction and support on the ravaged Gulf Coast, Brown offered to 'tweak' the federal response.
Two days after Katrina hit, Marty Bahamonde, one of the only FEMA employees in New Orleans, wrote to Brown that 'the situation is past critical' and listed problems including many people near death and food and water running out at the Superdome.
Brown's entire response was: 'Thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?'"

Lister CS Clone Listeroid slow speed diesel engines and generators: "LISTEROID GENERATORS
Some listeroid engines are being manufactured to run at higher rpms to produce increased horsepower. I believe this takes away from major advantages of the engine. These include longevity, slower burn cycle, and the more pleasant sound of a slow speed listeroid diesel.
The listeroid single cylinder engine weighs around 700 lbs and produces 6 HP at 650 rpm and 8 HP at 850 rpm. The listeroid twin cylinder engine weighs around 1300lbs and produces 12 HP at 650 rpm and 16 HP at 850 rpm.
"

Alito's idea that women are not disadvantaged when they can not take maternity leave seems absurd, both intellectually and factually.

Angry Bear: "In 2000, Alito authored an opinion in which he ruled that the FMLA was an instance of unconstitutional congressional overreach. In particular, he said that the FMLA was unconstitutional because there was no evidence for the notion that women are disadvantaged in the workplace when they are not allowed to take family leave. Furthermore, he argued, the requirement that everyone be guaranteed 12 weeks of unpaid family leave was a disproportionately strong remedy"

THE BRAD BLOG: "OH MY OHIO: Noe Indicted on 3 Counts in Bush/Cheney '04 Money-Laundering Scheme!": "A federal grand jury has indicted Tom Noe, the former Maumee coin dealer suspected of laundering money into President Bush�s reelection campaign, Mr. Noe�s attorney told The Blade today.

Gregory A. White, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, will hold a news conference in Toledo to announce �a major public corruption indictment.�

The U.S. Attorney�s office announced in April that it was investigating Mr. Noe for possible violations of federal campaign finance laws. Sources have told The Blade that authorities believe Mr. Noe gave money to several people who then contributed to the Bush-Cheney campaign."

Cheney Plan Exempts CIA From Bill Barring Abuse of Detainees: "The Bush administration has proposed exempting employees of the Central Intelligence Agency from a legislative measure endorsed earlier this month by 90 members of the Senate that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoners in U.S. custody."

Katrina vanden Heuvel: Fitzgerald Must Broaden Investigation : "'The CIA leak issue is only the tip of the iceberg,' Congressman Jerry Nadler told me when I ran into him on the street near our offices on Friday afternoon. He was quick to tell me of a call -- led by Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Nadler, along with 39 of their House colleagues -- for Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation to be expanded to examine whether the White House -- President, Vice-President, and members of the WH's Iraq War Group -- conspired to deliberately deceive Congress into authorizing the war.And, as Nadler reminded me, lying to Congress is a crime under several federal statutes.

This is the first call by members of Congress for an expansion of Fitzgerald's probe, amid mounting evidence that there was a well-orchestrated effort by what former State Department aide Larry Wilkerson dubbed last week, "the Cheney-Rumsfeld axis" to hijack US foreign policy and knowingly mislead the Congress in order to get its support for an unlawful war.

"We are no longer just talking about a Republican culture of corruption and cronyism," Nadler says. "We now have reason to believe that high crimes may have been committed at the highest level, wrongdoing that may have led us to war and imperiled our national security."

Zuppa Inglese: "it actually mean english soup but zuppa inglese was born in napoli.

The king ferdinando di borbone recived lady hamilton's unexpected visit (she had a relatinship with the duke of wellington).

there wasn't the time to prepare an elaborate dessert so the king gave the orther to prepare 'something sweet'.

so in the kitchen the invented this extemporary mixture served in a bowl like a soup.

so when the king saw the waiter bring this bowl with a strange soup in it said 'date la zuppa all'inglese' (give the soup to the English) meaning lady hamilton.


-----PASTRY CREAMS-----
1 qt Milk
1 1/2 c Sugar
12 Egg yolks
2/3 c Unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbsp Grated orange zest
2 tsp Vanilla extract
4 oz Bittersweet chocolate
1/2 tsp Cinnamon


BRING THE MILK and half the sugar to a boil in a large saucepan.
Whisk the egg yolks in mixing bowl and beat in the remaining sugar.
Sift in the flour and beat it in. Beat 1/3 of the boiling milk into the egg mixture. Return the remaining milk to a boil and beat in the egg mixture, continuing to beat until the pastry cream thickens and comes to a boil.
Cook, beating about 1 minute. Remove the cream from the heat and pour half into each of 2 bowls. Stir the orange zest and vanilla extract into one and the chocolate and cinnamon into the other. Press plastic wrap against the surface of each and refrigerate until cold.

"

Knight Ridder Reporter Files Harrowing Account After Stint With Iraqi Military: "In a remarkable report published widely Thursday, Tom Lasseter, longtime Knight Ridder correspondent in its Baghdad bureau, reveals what he learned as possibly the first American journalist to embed with an all-Iraqi military operation in the war -- and it isn't pretty.

Lasseter writes that 'a week spent eating, sleeping and going on patrol with a crack unit of the Iraqi army' (the 4,500-member 1st Brigade of the 6th Iraqi Division) suggests that the Bush exit strategy of turning over military control to the Iraqis 'is in serious trouble. Instead of rising above the ethnic tension that's tearing their nation apart, the mostly Shiite troops are preparing for, if not already fighting, a civil war against the minority Sunni population.'

Indeed, the soldiers he traveled with are 'seeking revenge against the Sunnis who oppressed them during Saddam Hussein's rule.'"