Dan Choi, gay rights activist and victim of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, which caused him to be discharged from the Army:
“I think our movement hits on so many nerves, not just for reasons of anti-discrimination and all the platitudes of the civil rights movement. I believe that it's also because it has elements of sexual liberation. And it shows people that through what we're trying to do, they can be fully respectful of themselves, without accepting the shame society wants to throw upon them.”
The WWF is warning that unless serious conservation steps are taken tigers might become extinct within 12 years:
Tigers could become extinct within 12 years but a top level meeting in Russia next month could help reverse the decline, nature conservation body WWF said on Thursday.
[…]
WWF said that in the last century, illegal hunting, a shrinking habitat and the trade of tiger parts used in oriental medicine had sent the number of the big cats worldwide plunging 97 percent to around just 3,200 tigers today.
"Despite the gloomy figures, the situation is more hopeful than ever," Jennersten said, praising a political initiative of 13 'tiger states' and different bodies set to meet in Russia on November 21-24 in a bid to halt possible extinction of the species.
"This will be achieved through increased political involvement, focus on the tiger landscapes that have the greatest chance of long term retention of the tiger, and increased control of tiger trade," he said.
We recently took the kids to the Boston Zoo, where we saw two spectacular specimens of tigers, including a white one. I cannot imagine a world without such stunning creatures.
Scientists are warning that the effects of global warming on the Arctic are worsening and won’t subside. On the contrary, things are bound to get worse:
The Arctic — an area described as Earth's refrigerator because its ice helps keep temperatures cool — continues to warm up and is unlikely to return to earlier conditions, according to an annual report card issued Thursday by top scientists.
"Record temperatures across the Canadian Arctic and Greenland, a reduced summer sea ice cover, (and) record snow cover decreases" were cited as factors supporting the conclusion in the 2010 Arctic Report Card issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The report card "tells a story of widespread, continued and even dramatic effects of a warming Arctic," lead researcher Jackie Richter-Menge, an expert at the federal Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab in Hanover, N.H., told reporters.
"It is increasingly unlikely, at least in the foreseeable future, that we will return to previous Arctic conditions," she said.
"It is very likely warming will continue" in the Arctic," she added, and "planning is urgent to adapt to the changes coming."
[…]
Past report cards have also cited warming trends, the scientists acknowledged, but this last year has seen several anomalies: record temperatures in Greenland; the largest recorded loss of ice from a Greenland glacier, a 110-square-mile chunk that broke off Petermann Glacier ; and a 2009-2010 winter that saw a blast of Arctic winds that went north-south instead of west-east — causing a deep freeze across the U.S. Northeast and Midwest.
That latter event, which had been registered only three times in 160 years of records, "looks like it's connecting to the warming and ice loss in the Arctic," said Jim Overland, a NOAA scientist responsible for the report card's section on atmosphere.
"Normally we think of winds bottled up in the Arctic," he said, but now a north-south shift might become more common.
"As we lose more sea ice it's a paradox that warming in the atmosphere can create more of these winter storms," he added.
[…]
"Beyond affecting the humans and wildlife that call the area home, the Arctic’s warmer temperatures and decreases in permafrost, snow cover, glaciers and sea ice also have wide-ranging consequences for the physical and biological systems in other parts of the world," NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco said in a statement. "The Arctic is an important driver of climate and weather around the world and serves as a critical feeding and breeding ground that supports globally significant populations of birds, mammals and fish."
She also quoted a NOAA researcher in describing the Arctic's importance: "Whatever is going to happen in the rest of the world happens first, and to the greatest extent, in the Arctic."
This reminds me of those dumbasses who sarcastically wonder what happened to global warming whenever a big rain or snow storm occurs. Global warming affects weather patterns and makes extreme events more likely, it doesn’t simply make temperatures rise.
But I guess that’s a concept too complex for some simple minds to handle.
Love this video’s message (even though I’m not crazy about the kids swearing…):
Sadly, so many gay teens committed suicide recently because of relentless bullying in school that Dan Savage, an openly gay sex-advice columnist decided to start It Gets Better, a web site where people who understand how hard it is to live through adolescence but who made it through and saw it get better can leave messages for teenagers.
This is perhaps the most poignant video I’ve seen so far, by Councilmember Joel Burns:
I understand very well how hard those years are. I too was bullied and called names all the time. I never wanted to leave the safety of my own bedroom just to avoid all that pain. And I was terrified that my parents would find out and of what would follow.
But I can also attest that it does get better. Those years eventually pass and you move on to other schools or jobs, other cities and people. You’ll meet other gay people who will start to become your circle of friends. And one day, when you least expect it, you’ll meet that one special person who will turn your world upside down.
I know it’s hard, especially when you’re so young and the thought of waiting until it' gets better is daunting, but you have to believe that if you give up and kill yourself, you will never experience all the beautiful things that life has to offer. And there are so many.
Hang in there. It does get better.
Many Hollywood legends (big and small) have left us recently.
Gloria Stuart (1910–2010)
Famous worldwide as the older Rose from Titanic, her filmography lists over 70 titles.
Kevin McCarthy (1914–2010)
This revered actor played both leading and supporting roles in almost 100 movies (over 200 when you include his television work!!).
I recently saw him in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers from 1956.
Arthur Penn (1922–2010)
This famed director was known primarily for Bonnie and Clyde, The Miracle Worker, Alice's Restaurant, and Little Big Man, a movie I remember being quite impressed by when I first saw it as a kid.
Tony Curtis (1925–2010)
While he might forever be remembered for his unforgettable role as one of two transvestites (for necessity) in Some Like It Hot (the other being the great Jack Lemmon, while the legendary Marilyn Monroe rounded up the cast), Curtis worked in over 100 movies.
Among the most famous ones, Spartacus, The Great Race, The Boston Strangler, and The Defiant Ones, for which he received his lone Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
He fathered Jamie Lee Curtis with one-time wife and Hollywood legend Janet Leigh.
