[Quote]:

Has the long-sought magic potion in society’s "battle with the bulge" finally arrived? An appetite-control agent that requires no prescription, has no common side effects, and costs almost nothing? Scientists today reported results of a new clinical trial confirming that just two 8-ounce glasses of the stuff, taken before meals, enables people to shed pounds. The weight-loss elixir, they told the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), is ordinary water.

"We are presenting results of the first randomized controlled intervention trial demonstrating that increased water consumption is an effective weight loss strategy," said Brenda Davy, Ph.D., senior author on the study. "We found in earlier studies that middle aged and older people who drank two cups of water right before eating a meal ate between 75 and 90 fewer calories during that meal. In this recent study, we found that over the course of 12 weeks, dieters who drank water before meals, three times per day, lost about 5 pounds more than dieters who did not increase their water intake."

"People should drink more water and less sugary, high-calorie drinks. It’s a simple way to facilitate weight management."

Well, just refresh for a new one.

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The Wright State Research Institute is developing a ground-breaking system that would scan the skeletal structures of people at airports, sports stadiums, theme parks and other public places that could be vulnerable to terrorist attacks, child abductions or other crimes. The images would then quickly be matched with potential suspects using a database of previously scanned skeletons.

I wonder – how many countries have a database of terrorist skeletons just waiting to be used?

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Thomas Bodström, chair of the Parliamentary Justice Committee and former justice minister, has come out in favour of voluntary drug testing, but when Sveriges Radio asked him to submit to a test, he refused.

Word.

Cut me some slack, Jack! Chump don’ want no help, chump don’t GET da’ help!

[Quote]:

With his brother Charles, who is seventy-four, David Koch owns virtually all of Koch Industries, a conglomerate, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, whose annual revenues are estimated to be a hundred billion dollars. The company has grown spectacularly since their father, Fred, died, in 1967, and the brothers took charge. The Kochs operate oil refineries in Alaska, Texas, and Minnesota, and control some four thousand miles of pipeline. Koch Industries owns Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Stainmaster carpet, and Lycra, among other products. Forbes ranks it as the second-largest private company in the country, after Cargill, and its consistent profitability has made David and Charles Koch—who, years ago, bought out two other brothers—among the richest men in America. Their combined fortune of thirty-five billion dollars is exceeded only by those of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers’ corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a “kingpin of climate science denial.” The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies—from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program—that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.

What a bucket of Kochs.

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Caught from cruiser cam of a Sugarcreek Township police car.

19 year old Brennan S. Eden of Mason was the driver of the 1985 Pontiac Firebird.

He is listed in critical condition.

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What would some of you do if a foreign country invaded your homeland? Put yourself in their shoes. A Western journalist lives with a Taliban fighting group, documenting and filming their daily lives, risking his own freedom and his life in the process.

The United Kingdom has been involved in this military action and occupation for nine years.

There is no end in sight.

Combatants on both sides are dying daily.

Innocent civilians — men, women and children are dying almost daily.

Both sides are totally convinced that God is on their side.

Opinions on the conflict are deeply divided in the UK, with probably a majority of the electorate being against the war being continued and in favour of withdrawal.

Opinion in Pakistan is deeply divided about the conflict.

The coalition forces are not winning this conflict.

The original objectives of the invasion of Afghanistan have been repeatedly redefined and have become blurred and confused.

The occupation of Afghanistan has created what is rapidly becoming an unbridgeable rift between the West and Islamic nations and cultures. It has also created serious tensions within the UK itself.

The invasion of Afghanistan was launched by the now wholly discredited Bush/Cheney neocom regime in America.

The coalition forces and the Karsai government will almost certainly do a deal with the Taliban to secure a diplomatic end to the conflict.

[Quote]:

Saw the entire documentary these clips are taken from on norwegian tv a month ago.

When he returns, he is taken hostage by the taliban. These guys are smalltown guys, so they demand a couple of thousand dollars. Prolem is that the hard core guys get word they have kidnapped a white journalist, and they want to buy him to use for their own purposes.

Long story short, in the end of the final night, while hardcore al quaeda roam the hills to find him, he is blindfolded and taken to another taliban commander who orders his men to drive him to the norwegian embassy and drop him of.

Turns out this taliban commander who saved him knew him from the war against the russians. The journalist was filming the taliban in that war as well, and the commander remembered him as a honest guy, and decided this had to be hounoured by rescuing him from al quaeda.

You can see the entire documentary for free here. (norwegian..)