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Good Day, Sunshine: The Happy Image Of A 'Smiling' Sun [Pic in URL] 2nd July 2010 There is a lot to smile about today - it's Friday, it's summer, and Andy Murray is still in the running at Wimbledon (for now). This extraordinary image is just one more thing to be cheerful about. The photograph, which has gone viral on the internet, shows clouds passing in front of the sun - creating what appears to be a smiley face. Happy summer: Clouds pass in front of the sun in this image that is doing the rounds on the internet Little...

The claims have been sensational. Martin Mittelstaedt checks up on the research behind the hype ### In the summer of 1974, brothers Frank and Cedric Garland had a heretical brainwave. The young epidemiologists were watching a presentation on death rates from cancer county by county across the United States. As they sat in a lecture hall at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore looking at the colour-coded cancer maps, they noticed a striking pattern, with the map for colon cancer the most pronounced. Counties with high death rates were red; those with low rates were blue. Oddly, the nation was almost...

When President Obama introduced the stimulus plan, he made a bold promise of transparency [1]: “Every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars by going to a new Web site called Recovery.gov [2].” But like so many noble ideas in government, that may be easier said than done. The government is moving to make detailed information on the stimulus publicly available. Congress has created an independent agency, led by a respected former inspector general, to collect information from those getting the money and to post it, starting in October. However, interviews by ProPublica suggest...

While I was doing some work today with my iTunes player going in the background a song came on. The light went on and I thought, 'this would make a darn good anthem for the Tea Party, FReeper, opposition to ObamaCare.Here's the link to the neato YouTube video.And here are the lyrics.Sunshine (Go Away Today) Lyrics by Jonathan EdwardsSunshine go away today I don't feel much like dancing Some man's gone, he's tried to run my life Don't know what he's asking He tells me I'd better get in line Can't hear what he's saying When I grow up I'm...

Back in July, a software company named Smartronix [1] landed an $18 million contract to build a Web site where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money. It was just another part of the Obama administration’s ongoing effort to bring transparency to stimulus spending, we were told. But it seems the drive for transparency doesn’t cover the contract itself.After weeks of prodding by ProPublica and other organizations, the General Services Administration released copies of the contract and related documents that are so heavily blacked out they are virtually worthless.Don’t believe us? Take a look. [2]ProPublica sought the contract...

An ill wind is blowing in America. Ordinary citizens from coast to coast are feeling a growing sense of outrage over what they are witnessing in Washington. At least one talk radio host states that the rage he is hearing from his listeners indicates that trouble is brewing beneath the surface that could erupt into the streets, not in violence, but in peaceful protest that sends a signal to Washington.

WASHINGTON -- A bill allowing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco is on the way to the White House for President Barack Obama's signature. A day after the Senate overwhelmingly approved the measure, the House passed it Friday on a 307-97 vote. (See related article.) Mr. Obama said the legislation gives the government much greater power to regulate tobacco "truly defines change in Washington." The president spoke in the Rose Garden Friday and promised to sign the bill. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Thursday that her agency looked forward to implementing it.

A handsome new book by Amy Goldman jump-started memories of my family saving seeds from our beloved yellow oxheart tomatoes through fall and winter for spring planting. This was our heirloom tomato, although we did not think of it as such. In reading Miss Goldman's "The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table" (Bloomsbury), I learned that one woman, who was involved with preserving a strain her ancestors had brought when they emigrated from Germany, still puts sugar on her sliced tomatoes. I remember my grandmother doing this, although she also added a few drops of vinegar on the slices of...

Link to Japanese story. Breaking initially from South Korean news organization Yonhap about 30 minutes ago Said former President died in a "mountain climbing" accident. Also speculating suicide.This was the architect of the "Sunshine Policy" of appeasement toward North Korea. Good friend of Clintons. BREAKING

It looks like the credit card bill is headed to the White House. I won't pound the table any more than I already have. It's a bad bill that's bad for the economy. Now is a good time to take a measure, once again, of one of the President's simplest campaign pledges: that he would post the full text of any non-emergency legislation to the White House website for five days before signing it. His thought was that this would give greater transparency to the legislative process. Well, he has already whiffed at transparency in a number of ways, from...

Alright, y'all, I risked terminal sunburn to get these warmup shots for all you frozen snowbirds! The Pelican ain't up to par, but he was moving at warp speed, jumping on a fish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inLpxuO_lYo

Preparing for the Obama EraBush Officials and President-Elect Working Together On Pressing Issues By Robert Barnes, Dan Eggen and Anne E. Kornblut Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, November 9, 2008; A01 Faced with one of the most important transfers of presidential power in American history -- amid wars on two fronts, the looming threat of terrorism at home and a full-blown economic crisis -- the outgoing Bush administration and the incoming Obama team have responded with exceptional cooperation on those issues, aides and outside experts say. **SNIP** The Obama team has begun submitting names to the FBI for expedited security...

Men With Vitamin D Deficiency May Have Increased Risk Of Heart Attack ScienceDaily (Jun. 11, 2008) — Low levels of vitamin D appear to be associated with higher risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) in men, according to a new report. Studies have shown that the rates of cardiovascular disease-related deaths are increased at higher latitudes and during the winter months and are lower at high altitudes, according to background information in the article. "This pattern is consistent with an adverse effect of hypovitaminosis D [vitamin D deficiency], which is more prevalent at higher latitudes, during the winter and at...

Low Vitamin D Levels Appear Common In Healthy Children ScienceDaily (Jun. 6, 2008) — Many healthy infants and toddlers may have low levels of vitamin D, and about one-third of those appear to have some evidence of reduced bone mineral content on X-rays, according to a new report. Reports of a resurgence of vitamin D deficiency and rickets, the resulting bone-weakening disease, have emerged in several states, according to background information in the article. Vitamin D deficiency also appears to be high in other countries, including Greece, China, Canada and England. Catherine M. Gordon, M.D., M.Sc., and colleagues at Children's...

It wasn’t clear if Barack Obama knew exactly where he was Friday afternoon when he spoke at his mass rally at the BankAtlantic Center. He repeatedly used the term “Sunshine” as a place name rather than “Sunrise,” the city where the arena is located, including, "How’s it going Sunshine? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you everybody. It’s good to be in Sunshine." U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Democrat who represents north and central Broward and is co-chairman of Obama's Florida campaign, said the candidate could have been speaking metaphorically about Florida’s sunshine. The opposition had a different view....

It wasn’t clear if Barack Obama knew exactly where he was Friday afternoon when he spoke at his mass rally at the BankAtlantic Center. He repeatedly used the term “Sunshine” as a place name rather than “Sunrise,” the city where the arena is located, including, "How’s it going Sunshine? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you everybody. It’s good to be in Sunshine." U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, a Democrat who represents north and central Broward and is co-chairman of Obama's Florida campaign, said the candidate could have been speaking metaphorically about Florida’s sunshine.

Google Government : Government transparency is key to limited government Starlee Rhoades, Goldwater Institute Daily Email, March 19, 2008 It’s National Sunshine Week, whose goal – “a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information” -- is worth celebrating. The national trend towards “Google-government” -- having government spending, contracts, and other information posted online in easily searchable databases that are available to all citizens -- is one Arizona should embrace. In 100 Ideas for 100 Days the Goldwater Institute offered several ideas to legislators and other policymakers that would shine more sunlight on various government functions and...

A Ray Of Sunshine In The Fight Against Cancer: Vitamin D May HelpDalhousie's Dr. Lousie Parker holds a vitamin D pill. (Credit: Danny Abriel.) ScienceDaily (Feb. 13, 2008) — It sounds too good to be true … a little inexpensive pill that could block the development of some cancers, strengthen bones, prevent multiple sclerosis and alleviate winter depression. But it’s not science fiction. The “new aspirin” could be Vitamin D. Just as we discovered that aspirin can guard against heart disease, Vitamin D could become a useful weapon in the fight against MS, osteoporosis, mild depression and one of the...

Can Vitamin D Save Your Life?New studies highlight the importance of the forgotten vitamin. by Mariana Gosnell For years doctors believed that vitamin D, sometimes called the “sunshine vitamin” because sunlight triggers the body to produce it, was important primarily in preventing rickets (a softening of the bones) in children. Once milk became fortified with vitamin D, rickets pretty much disappeared, and the problem of vitamin D deficiency seemed to have been solved. But according to Michael F. Holick, director of the Vitamin D, Skin, and Bone Research Laboratory at Boston University Medical Center, who has spent 30 years studying...