World News(Stuff to Discuss) Free For All

[Predator24]

From 4/24/07

[Trips]

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(CNN) -- An Italian scientist says he has reproduced one of the world's most famous Catholic relics, the Shroud of Turin, to support his belief it is a medieval fake, not the cloth Jesus was buried in.

Luigi Garlaschelli created a copy of the shroud by wrapping a specially woven cloth over one of his students, painting it with pigment, baking it in an oven (which he called a "shroud machine") for several hours, then washing it.

His result looks like the cloth that many Christians through the centuries have believed is the actual burial shroud of Jesus, he told CNN.

"What you have now is a very fuzzy, dusty and weak image," he said. "Then for the sake of completeness I have added the bloodstains, the burns, the scorching because there was a fire in 1532."

Garlaschelli says his work disproves the claims of the shroud's strongest supporters.

"Basically the Shroud of Turin has some strange properties and characteristics that they say cannot be reproduced by human hands," he told CNN by phone from Italy, where he is a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Pavia.

"For example, the image is superficial and has no pigment, it looks so lifelike and so on, and therefore they say it cannot have been done by an artist."

His research shows the pigment may simply have worn off the cloth over the centuries since it was first "discovered" in 1355, but impurities in the pigment etched an image into the fibers of the cloth, leaving behind the ghostly picture that remains today.

"The procedure is very simple. The artist took this sheet and put it over one of his assistants," he said.

"His good idea was to wrap the sheet over the person underneath because he didn't want to obtain an image that was too obviously a painting or a drawing, so with this procedure you get a strange image," said Garlaschelli.

"Time did the rest," he said.

He undertook the research out of personal interest, he said.

"As a hobby I am interested in mysteries, and the Shroud of Turin is obviously a very mysterious object," he said.


He described himself as a rationalist, but said he is not specifically anti-religious.

"I am not a believer, but I am first of all a curious person, and I like to investigate these mysteries, not necessarily related to religion," he said. "It's not my fault if in Italy most of these paranormal facts are related to religion. If the church would like to fund me (to do research), I am ready."

The Shroud of Turin is a linen sheet more than 14 feet long and 3 feet, 7 inches wide that carries an imprinted image of the front and the back of a crucified man, according to the Catholic Archdiocese of Turin.

"The imprint shows the peculiar characteristics that usually belong to a photographic negative," says the Web site of the shroud, which is maintained by the archdiocese.

The Vatican does not have an official position on whether the relic is genuinely the cloth Jesus was buried in after being crucified.

"Since it is not a matter of faith, the church has no specific competence to pronounce on these questions," the late Pope John Paul II said in 1998.

Carbon dating in the 1990s suggested it dates from the Middle Ages.

But John Paul II insisted it is important to learn lessons from the relic, whether or not it is genuine.

"The imprint left by the tortured body of the crucified one, which attests to the tremendous human capacity for causing pain and death to one's fellow man, stands as an icon of the suffering of the innocent in every age," he said in an address at Turin Cathedral, the home of the shroud.

"Before the shroud, how can we not think of the millions of people who die of hunger, of the horrors committed in the many wars that soak nations in blood, of the brutal exploitation of women and children, of the millions of human beings who live in hardship and humiliation on the edges of great cities, especially in developing countries?" the pope asked.

The Vatican has not responded to Garlaschelli's research, which was funded by the Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics, he said.

He dabbled on the project for years, he said, starting with handkerchief-size pieces of cloth and different combinations of acid and pigment, before making his shroud this summer.

Now that he knows how to do it, he could make another one in about a week, he estimated.

The greatest expense was having a cloth specially woven to mimic the shroud, he said.

He did not have access to the shroud itself, which is usually kept in a special chamber, away from public view.

"Only a few very chosen persons have direct access to it," he said, adding he had relied on "the published data" about the relic.

He is due to present his findings Saturday at a conference of the Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims on the Paranormal. He has also written a 50-page paper that he hopes to publish in a scientific journal.

The real Shroud of Turin is due to go on display to the public in April and May of 2010. It was last put on public view in 1998 and 2000, but has undergone extensive restoration since then, including removing a backing and patches added over the centuries

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[The Godfather]

In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was gang-raped by her co-workers while she was working for Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad. She was detained in a shipping container for at least 24 hours without food, water, or a bed, and ?warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she?d be out of a job.? (Jones was not an isolated case.) Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration.

Pretty heinous. If any company deserves to get the ACORN treatment, it's Halliburton/KBR. So Sen. Al Franken introduced an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations to cut funding from contractors who use this sort of "cover your ass at all costs" in employee contracts, saying, "The constitution gives everybody the right to due process of law... And today, defense contractors are using fine print in their contracts do deny women like Jamie Leigh Jones their day in court... The victims of rape and discrimination deserve their day in court [and] Congress plainly has the constitutional power to make that happen."

So exercise that power he did, in the form of the following language:

None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this [appropriations bill] may be used for any existing or new Federal contract if the contractor or a subcontractor at any tier requires that an employee or independent contractor, as a condition of employment, sign a contract that mandates that the employee or independent contractor performing work under the contract or subcontract resolve through arbitration any claim under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment, including assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, or negligent hiring, supervision, or retention.

Pretty straghtforward -- for legislative language, anyway -- and pretty common sense. But nothing -- absolutely nothing -- is beyond becoming a partisan issue these days and GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions complained that the amendment was just "a political attack directed at Halliburton." I guess kidnapping, rape, and false imprisonment is no big deal in Sessions' world; bringing it up is bad form and a needless embarrassment to the company Dick Cheney used to work for.

In the end, the amendment passed 68-30, with these fine Americans casting the pro-contractor-rape vote:

Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

100% Republican. Kneejerk obstructionism has never been so shameless.

?It means the world to me,? Jones said after the vote. ?It means that every tear shed to go public and repeat my story over and over again to make a difference for other women was worth it.?

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[Fever]

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Absolutely disgusting abuse of powers.
I followed this pretty closely, and it exemplifies and feeds alot of my disdain for our system, as it has been.
I only hope we see more such corrections.
And Halliburton - don't forget that this is just one reason why they moved their headquarters to Dubai.
I've just always been shocked that the self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives out there aren't more alert to how much corporations like this, with no bid/rigged bid contracts, have really cost us.
Anyone in the military can attest to the mis-allocation and appropriation of funds (just look at pay for contractors versus grunts); I've seen $5,000 square foot pieces styrofoam in my day.

(CNN) -- Two U.S. spacecraft are set to crash on the moon Friday. On purpose. And we're all invited to watch.
NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite is scheduled to drop its Centaur upper-stage rocket on the lunar surface at 7:31 a.m. ET.

NASA hopes the impact will kick up enough dust to help the LCROSS probe find the presence of water in the moon's soil. Four minutes later, the LCROSS will follow through the debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before crashing into the Cabeus crater near the moon's south pole.

The LCROSS is carrying spectrometers, near-infrared cameras, a visible camera and a visible radiometer. These instruments will help NASA scientists analyze the plume of dust -- more than 250 metric tons' worth -- for water vapor.
The orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will watch, and photograph, the collisions. And hundreds of telescopes on Earth also will be focused on the two plumes.

NASA is encouraging amateur astronomers to join the watch party.

"We expect the debris plumes to be visible through midsized backyard telescopes -- 10 inches and larger," said Brian Day at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California. Day is an amateur astronomer who is leading education and public outreach for the LCROSS mission.

"The initial explosions will probably be hidden behind crater walls, but the plumes will rise high enough above the crater's rim to be seen from Earth," he said. The Cabeus crater lies in permanent shadow, making observations inside the crater difficult

The impacts will not be visible to the naked eye or through binoculars. If you don't have a telescope, or you live in areas where daylight will obscure the viewing, NASA TV will broadcast the crashes live. Coverage begins at 6:15 a.m. ET Friday.

The two main components of the LCROSS mission are the shepherding spacecraft and the Centaur upper stage rocket. The spacecraft will guide the rocket to its crash site.

Data from previous space missions have revealed trace amounts of water in lunar soil. The LCROSS mission seeks a definitive answer to the question of how much water is present. NASA has said it believes water on the moon could be a valuable resource in the agency's quest to explore the solar system.

LCROSS launched with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 18.

Friday's lunar impact will be best visible in areas that are still dark, particularly in the western United States.

"We don't actually think we're going to see anything [because] we're in the twilight area," said David Young of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City, Missouri. The impact is scheduled to happen at 6:30 a.m in Missouri "just as it starts to get light here," Young said.

"Plus, it's raining like the dickens," he said.

Nevertheless, a group of high school students plans to wake up early and watch the event with their teacher, who is also the director of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City, Young said.

The Fremont Peak Observatory near Monterrey, California, will open up its doors early Friday to allow people to watch the event through its 30-inch telescope --"the most accessible public telescope in the [San Francisco] Bay area," the observatory's vice president Dave Samuels said.

So far, at least 50 people have signed up, Samuels said.

"Fifty people is really phenomenal," he said. "Especially on a school night [and] work night. It's really incredible."

Students, retirees, and board members are among those scheduled to attend.

Samuels said a special low-light, infrared video camera will be hooked up to the telescope so that the entire audience can watch the rocket strike the moon. The observatory is located in Fremont Peak State Park, which is on a list of state parks that could close because of California's recent budget cuts.

Samuels said he hopes Friday's event triggers more interest in astronomy -- particularly among young children -- and possibly helps the park to stay open.

"It's things like this that get kids interested [in science]," he said. "It will probably be a defining moment for them."

[ThatHaole]

Father of Palin's grandson to pose for Playgirl

ANCHORAGE, Alaska ?

Levi Johnston is going for the ultimate exposure - the 19-year-old father of Sarah Palin's grandchild will pose nude for Playgirl, his attorney said Wednesday.

To get ready for his close-up, Johnston is training three hours a day, six nights a week at an Anchorage gym with a local body builder.

A formal agreement hasn't been reached with the online magazine, but the photo shoot is a "foregone conclusion," said Johnston's attorney, Rex Butler.

Johnston fathered a son with Bristol, the 18-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate who resigned as Alaska's governor in July.

Publication of the photographs could be a source of embarrassment for Palin, often mentioned as a possible 2012 presidential candidate. Her memoir, "Going Rogue," will be published next month and pre-sales already have made it a national best seller.

Just after Sen. John McCain chose Palin as his running mate in August 2008, Johnston was thrust into the national spotlight when Palin abruptly announced her unwed daughter was pregnant and the couple would marry.

The couple broke up after the birth of their son, Tripp, in December. The relationship between the Palins and Johnston since then has often been strained, mostly over visitation issues.

Palin's representatives did not respond to a request for comment on the Playgirl job.

Johnston also has been marketing himself for a possible modeling or acting career, spending time in New York and Los Angeles. His first TV commercial, hawking Wonderful brand pistachios, debuted this week.

No date has been set for the Playgirl photo shoot, but Butler expects the world will get a gander of the finished product by the end of the year. Playgirl approached Johnston about posing in the buff, Butler said.

Playgirl spokesman Vincent Stevens couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

"We told him he would have to do what actors and actresses do," Butler said. "They get in the gym."

Johnston has been working out with Marvin Jones, a former Mr. Alaska competitor who has put the teenager on a low-carb, high-protein diet.

I like Sarah Palin. I'm not thinking she's Presidential or anything, but I see her as a regular person who's in way deep w/politics, and probably over her head. All this stuff going on with her kids... it just kills me. Really unfortunate. Sounds to me like somebody offered this kid alot of money, and he's just young and stupid enough to bite. This is not a "win" for Palin's critics, it's just a "fail" for everybody.

[towdog]

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Amen. Being a retired Loggy (read property book nco) I've seen plenty.

On a side note: also attached to the defense appropriations bill is an amendment that has nothing at all to do with defense and everything to do with bullshit. and that is the hate speech amendment.

[towdog]

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I've got my DVR set. And if I had ever got my wife talked into that telescope I really really need, I'd be watching real live, not nasa live.