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demmiblue

demmiblue's Journal
demmiblue's Journal
January 27, 2015

Yeti spotted roaming the streets of Boston during blizzard

Source: Mashable



As the blizzard starting battering the streets of Boston, a figure dressed in a white Yeti costume was spotted at random locations in the snow-covered city.

The Yeti's movements are being documented on the @BostonYeti2015 Twitter handle, which mysteriously appeared on Monday as residents across the Northeast were trapped in their homes, bracing for the worst.

So far, he has been spotted running wild through the snow, preaching about safety and trying to hail a cab — which is unlikely due to the travel ban.


Read more: http://mashable.com/2015/01/27/blizzard-boston-yeti/

January 21, 2015

Republicans Post Doctored Version Of State Of The Union, Censor Facts On Climate Change

Source: Think Progress



The official website for House Republicans has posted on YouTube a doctored version of President Obama’s State of the Union address which cuts out comments where the President was critical of Republican rhetoric on climate change, ThinkProgress has learned.

In the website’s “enhanced webcast” of the State of the Union speech, President Obama’s comments criticizing Republicans for saying they are “not scientists” when it comes to climate change are erased.

At the 43:25 minute mark, President Obama is supposed to say “I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act. Well, I’m not a scientist, either. But you know what — I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe.”

Instead, the entire section is skipped. Obama’s comments resume with “The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it.”



Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/21/3613732/you-cant-handle-the-truth/

January 21, 2015

Fox’s Doocy: Students shouldn’t get free college because I just paid my loans off ‘two weeks ago'

Source: Raw Story



Fox News host Steve Doocy complained on Wednesday that President Barack Obama’s plan to make college tuition free for some students was not fair because he had just paid off his student loans “about two weeks ago.”

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, the president talked about his plan to “to spread that idea all across America, so that two years of college becomes as free and universal in America as high school is today.” The $60 billion dollar proposal would provide grants to pay 75 percent of the average cost of community college for two years, and participating states would be required to cover the rest.

“I want to work with this Congress, to make sure Americans already burdened with student loans can reduce their monthly payments, so that student debt doesn’t derail anyone’s dreams,” Obama explained on Tuesday.

But Doocy reacted on Wednesday by suggesting that every student should be saddled with debt because he was.


Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/foxs-steve-doocy-students-shouldnt-get-free-college-because-i-just-paid-my-loans-off-two-weeks-ago/

There you go, folks... the party of me, myself and I (to hell with the rest of you)!
January 21, 2015

The Civil Rights Legend Who’s Inspiring a New Generation With Comic Books

Source: Wired



Congressman John Lewis has a dramatic life story: Born the son of Alabama sharecroppers, he joined the Civil Rights Movement, became one of the original Freedom Riders, marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma and spoke at the 1963 March on Washington before King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Now, the last living member of the legendary Big Six civil rights leaders is sharing his story with the next generation through a trilogy of graphic novels titled March.

Comics have played an important role in communicating the message of the Civil Rights Movement to young people before—including Lewis himself. When he was 18, Lewis read a comic book titled Martin Luther King Jr. and the Montgomery Story published by the civil rights group Fellowship for Reconciliation, something that he says changed his life. The comic was not only a biography of King, but a blueprint for putting his principles of direct action and nonviolence into practice.

The events of March, the second volume of which is out today, feel particularly resonant in the midst of the ongoing national conversation about race and police brutality inspired by the deaths of numerous unarmed black men at the hands of law enforcement, as well as the militaristic response to the protests inspired by them. Lewis hopes that young people—especially young people inspired to activism by these events—will read his books to educate themselves about the history of the Civil Rights Movement and the non-violent principles that guided them.

“We were committed to the philosophy of nonviolence, even in the face of angry mobs during the Freedom Rides in Montgomery, Alabama at the Greyhound bus stations,” says Lewis. “We never struck back. We were willing to suffer the beatings, to be arrested, to go to jail for what we believed in. I’m hopeful that young people who are thinking about what happened in Ferguson and New York can see another generation that acted in a peaceful, non-violent fashion and never gave up.”



Read more: http://www.wired.com/2015/01/john-lewis-march-comic/
January 21, 2015

Part 2 of Mother Taking Magical Photos Of Her Two Kids With Animals On Her Farm

lena Shumilova is back with another set of magical photographs. We wrote about her earlier (here), a mom and owner of a farm in Russia has taking us trough a journey of a beautiful world that revolves around her two boys and their adorable dog, cat, duckling and rabbit friends. She shoots with natural light making the photos magical..

“When shooting I prefer to use natural light – both inside and outside. I love all sorts of light conditions – street lights, candle light, fog, smoke, rain and snow – everything that gives visual and emotional depth to the image.” She said.












More: http://www.wherecoolthingshappen.com/part-2-of-mother-taking-magical-photos-of-her-two-kids-with-animals-on-her-farm/
January 20, 2015

Dove's Super Bowl ad will make a grown man cry

Source: Mashable



It looks like Dove may be the first brand to release its Super Bowl ad online — and it's a tearjerker aimed at dads.

The ad consists of one word, "dad" (or "daddy&quot , which is repeated by boys and girls at different stages of their lives. The repetition is affecting, particularly on repeated viewings and may results in watery eyes from more than a few fathers.

Dove, which is known for its decade-plus "Real Beauty" campaign and 2013's viral hit "Sketches," has mostly targeted its advertising at women. In 2010, the brand bought a Super Bowl ad to promote its men's line Men + Care. That ad was much more jokey in tone and employed a version of "The William Tell Overture," with lyrics like "Go out with your friends, but be a gentleman too. Then find a girl who'll say 'I do'..."

This spot takes a different approach, but underscores Dove's intention, which is to "showcase and to highlight through social channels what it looks like to be a modern man," according to Jen Bremner, director of marketing for Dove Men + Care. The ad includes the hashtag #realstrength to drive that discussion.


Read more: http://mashable.com/2015/01/20/doves-super-bowl-ad-2015/

This is a refreshing portrayal of fatherhood. to Dove!
January 15, 2015

House OKs panic buttons in wake of open carry confrontation (Texas)

Source: Houston Chronicle



AUSTIN - The Texas House approved rules Wednesday to be able to install panic buttons and eject hostile members of the public from their offices, after a confrontation between lawmakers and open carry advocates visiting the Capitol on the opening day of the 2015 session.

"I think that public servants and members of the public ought to feel safe and secure when they come to the Capitol," said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, who sponsored an amendment to add the safety measures to the house housekeeping rules. "That being said, it came to my attention there was some disagreement as to whether members have to accommodate individuals or groups that are acting in a threatening or belligerent manner."

On Tuesday, around 15 to 20 members of the group Open Carry Tarrant County visited several lawmaker offices urging them to support House Bill 195, which seeks to undo Texas' 125-year ban on the open carry of handguns. Several House members, including Democrats Poncho Nevarez of Eagle Pass and Celia Israel of Austin, said the group hassled them or their staff.

In a video posted to Facebook by Kory Watkins, the gun group's leader, on Tuesday, open carry activists can be heard calling Nevarez "a tyrant to the Constitution" and telling him he "won't be here very long, bro."


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/House-approves-panic-buttons-in-wake-of-open-6015078.php
January 14, 2015

Sandwich Monday: The White Castle Veggie Slider

Source: npr: the salt



White Castle is not a place you think of as a restaurant for vegetarians. In fact, early franchises built moats and had cauldrons of hot oil at the ready to keep vegetarians out. So, the new Veggie Slider comes as something of a surprise. It's a tiny veggie burger made with carrots, zucchini, peas, spinach and broccoli on a tiny bun, topped with honey mustard, ranch or Thai sauce.

<snip>



<snip>

(The verdict: Not too bad. They don't have a whole lot in the way of texture, so it's a little bit like inhaling greasy air. But we like veggie burgers and we're glad White Castle is making one.)

Sandwich Monday is a satirical feature from the humorists at Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me!


Read more: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/01/12/376745994/sandwich-monday-the-white-castle-veggie-slider

Y'all first! (I like my veggie burgers, but... White Castle?! I'm sure they would be dripping with meat juices, or worse.)

January 11, 2015

Pastor: I punched a kid ‘as hard as I could’ for ‘not taking the Lord serious’

Source: Raw Story

A pastor at the Bible Baptist Church in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey is coming under fire after his church posted a video of him claiming to have converted a “smart aleck” youth by “punching him in the chest as hard as I could.”

Pastor Eric Dammann begins by saying that he met a young man in Calgary named “Ben,” who was “a nice kid, but one of those — he was a real smart aleck. He was a bright kid, which didn’t help things — made him more dangerous.”

“We were outside one day at youth group,” Dammann continues, “and he was just trying to push my buttons. He was just kind of not taking the Lord serious [sic].”

“So I walked over to him and went BAM! Punched him in the chest as hard as I could. I crumpled the kid. I just crumpled him.”



Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/pastor-i-punched-a-kid-as-hard-as-i-could-for-not-taking-the-lord-serious/
January 10, 2015

Koran-burning pastor pulls his image from mall french fry stand post-Charlie Hebdo

Source: Raw Story



A Florida pastor, notorious for publicly burning copies of the Koran, has removed his image from the front of a mall french fry stand he co-owns over concerns following the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in France, reports the Bradenton Herald.

Pastor Terry Jones, part owner in Fry Guys Gourmet Fries (“We take fries seriously“) located in a Bradenton mall, removed his image which sat on the counter beside pictures of the other two co-owners after the mall manager raised concerns.

“At first I thought the pictures would not be so recognizable,” Jones said. “They were supposed to be more of a cartoon type of thing.”

DeSoto Square Mall manager Robert Tackett was not previously aware of Jones history of burning copies of the Koran which landed him a spot on an al-Qaida ‘wanted dead or alive’ propaganda poster.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/koran-burning-pastor-pulls-his-image-from-mall-french-fry-stand-post-charlie-hebdo/

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