Semantic Interoperability of Metadata and Information in unLike Environments
SIMILE is focused on developing robust, open source tools that empower users to access, manage, visualize and reuse digital assets. Learn more about the SIMILE project.
Designing Visualizations for Time-Based Data
Most interaction designers understand the concept of timelines and other time-based data. Blogs, calendars, and to-do lists are all examples of time-based data. However, if you are trying to fit 400 data points into a 1024 x 726 screen you'll quickly see how challenging time-base data can be. Currently, many interaction designers are turning to visualizations to overcome many of the issues associated with this form of data representation. Below you'll find a list of some of the best time-based visualizations on the web. More...
newest movie trailers with no annoyances
Dear Google… Some AdWords & Analytics Features We Need… Part 1
Painted Solar Cells On Steel Buildings Could Generate Energy
Another Line Rider Video Release from TechDawg. This project lingered in the background for 4 months before it was finally completed.
11 The crystal skulls of Central America
A number of skulls, each allegedly carved from crystal and found in Central America, have been touted as evidence for advanced technology in the past and, much more incongruously, as evidence for unexpected anatomical knowledge. The most famous is that said to have been found in 1924 (or 1927) by Frederick Albert (or Arthur, depending on which of his books is used as a source) Mitchell-Hedges (1882-1959, also known occasionally as Mike Hedges) in Lubaantun, Belize, where the British Museum had been conducting excavations under the direction of Thomas Athol Joyce (1878-1942). Lubaantun is a late Classic ceremonial centre dated 700-900 CE. Despite Mitchell-Hedges’s autobiographical claims to have discovered and excavated the city under an exclusive twenty-year concession, it had been known for some time. Moreover, he was sponsored by the Daily Mail and was reporting on the British Museum’s fieldwork, not running any. He was therefore in no position to donate the finds to various museums in Britain, as he claimed in the 1950s. Even the date of discovery is confused: Anna Mitchell-Hedges recalled its date as coinciding with her seventeenth birthday in 1927, yet Frederick claimed never to have returned to the site after 1926.
Popular Desktop Applications And Their Online Alternatives
Data Chart Press
Average Hourly Earnings
Average Weekly Hours Worked
Building Permits
Capacity Utilization Rate
Consumer Confidence
Consumer Price Index – CPI
Gross Domestic Product – GDP
Help Wanted Advertising Index
Housing Starts
Index of Leading Indicators – LEI
Industrial Production Index
The 16 PS3s haven't been physically modified. They're networked together using an inexpensive Gigabit Ethernet switch.
"Overall, a single PS3 performs better than the highest-end desktops available and compares to as many as 25 nodes of an IBM Blue Gene supercomputer," Khanna noted.
Challenges Facing Humanity
Make solar energy affordable
Provide energy from fusion
Develop carbon sequestration
Manage the nitrogen cycle
Provide access to clean water
Reverse engineer the brain
Prevent nuclear terror
Secure cyberspace
Enhance virtual reality
Improve urban infrastructure
Advance health informatics
Engineer better medicines
Advance personalised learning
Explore natural frontiers
Dear Neocons,
It is showtime over Iran. You are in a bind of your own making and, boy, am I glad to see it!
Allow me to explain.
Increasing Iranian belligerence vis-Ã -vis your pressure on Iran's nuclear program indicates that decision time has finally arrived. The words of your spokesman, the President of United States, having earlier included Iran as part of the "axis of evil" in a rush of blood, will not allow you to do nothing. You now must put up or shut up, once and for all.
Let us examine your options.
To start off, you could impose unilateral sanctions on Iran. There is no evidence, however, that unilateral sanctions have ever worked. Your country imposed over 80 unilateral economic sanctions on foreign nations from 1995 to 2001, and those sanctions cost U.S. companies up to $19 billion in 1995 alone. There are few items of international commerce over which your country has a monopoly. Target countries simply buy what they need elsewhere, while big American businesses lose sales to foreign competitors.
The next option involves multilateral sanctions on Iran through the U.N. Multilateral sanctions have a better chance of success, but they are hard to maintain. With China and Russia, Iran's two major trading partners, sitting on the U.N. Security Council, these are unlikely to materialize. Moreover, such sanctions eventually break down, especially when the target country has considerable deposits of tradable commodities like gold, diamonds or oil. Such goods are easily sold on international markets and are difficult to trace.
Not only are sanctions ineffective, they often end up hurting the very people they are meant to help. For example, the only significant effect that your country's sanctions on Iraq produced was, according to a U.N. Children's Fund Report, over 500,000 dead Iraqi children.
Next, you could get Israel to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. There are, however, some deep-seated problems attached to this option too. Based on its known military capabilities, the Israeli Air Force can possibly conduct surgical strikes at the 1000km plus range, but it is incapable of a sustained air campaign against a full range of targets at such a distance. Furthermore, targets that are well-defended, like the Iranian nuclear facilities, must be attacked by a larger aerial force composed of attack aircraft, interceptors that protect them and other support elements. For a long term effect, therefore, any attempt to attack the Iranian nuclear facilities would necessitate sustainable operations on a large number of targets over an extended period of time.
Not having aircraft carriers of its own, taking out Iran's nuclear facilities would entail Israel conducting operations using facilities of a friendly country like Turkey or India. These states also have friendly relations with Iran and are, therefore, not likely to allow Israel to use their territories for such a purpose.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Will He be the Man to Ruin All of
the Best Laid Neoconservative Plans? (above)
An Iranian Vendor is Seen Through Beads at
a Stall in Tehran's Bazaar Last October (below)
A Technician at the Uranium Conversion Facility in Isfahan, Iran (above)
Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte (2nd from left) Before
Annual Senate Select Intelligence Committee Hearing on Global Threats
to the U.S., With (L-R) Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence
Michael Hayden, CIA Director Porter Goss and FBI Director
Robert Muellern , Feb. 2.(below).
— C-SPAN VIDEO: U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Annual Hearing
on Worldwide Threats to the United States. Witnesses Include Dir. of Nat'l
Intelligence John Negroponte, Dir. of CIA Porter Goss, and others,
Feb. 2, 03:42:45 RealVideo
Secondly, the risk of a violent Iranian reaction may prevent Israeli leaders from choosing this option, especially when it might only serve to delay the progress of an Iranian nuclear program. In a nutshell, the option of getting Israel to attack Iranian installations is difficult because the probability of success is low, the risks are high, and reprisals are certain.
That brings us to your next option of using Israel as a part of a larger American effort. This is a non-starter. If your country undertakes joint preemptive strikes with Israel against Iran, it is sure to reinforce the existing perception in the Muslim world of an anti-Islamic Judeo-Christian conspiracy. Additionally, such an attack, particularly if it failed achieve its planned objectives, would have a destabilizing effect on the entire Middle East - the fountainhead of your much cherished substance, oil. It could also lead to a further acceleration of the Iranian program and a chain of violent clashes between Iran and Israel, as discussed in the preceding paragraphs.
Next, you could go it alone in a direct military confrontation.
Remember please that Iran is no Iraq. It is large, populous, rugged, and its nuclear facilities are spread throughout the country, some deep underground. A full-scale invasion would be a too-hot-to-handle venture for you. When one compares Iran to Saddam's Iraq, where you thought you would be greeted as liberators, it's not too difficult to guess the level of ferocity and popularity of a post-invasion Iranian resistance.
That brings us to your final option: a bargain with the Iranians. Here you have really become captives of your own bombast. Bargaining with Iran would mean offering the present regime incentives for disarmament while dropping the mad rhetoric of regime change. However, any overt bargain with Iran will surely be read as a retreat from your much-touted project of democratization and regional transformation.
Moreover, a U.S. bargain with Iran would have global effects. The most serious would not be in France or Germany, whose governments have made it plain that they have no stomach for America's future war parties, but in China and to a lesser degree in Russia. Beijing, Moscow and Tehran share a dislike of the Pax Americana and have a long record of direct and indirect cooperation on nuclear and missile programs. A weak-kneed American deal would invite further aggressive thrusts from China and Russia into this region, and would sound the death knell for your empire-building dreams.
In short, you are in a bind of your own making and we can see you Winden sich . Yes, your mouthpiece, George Bush, had some harsh words for Iran in his State of the Union address the other night, but gone was the bellicose swagger. His pitch differed sharply from the State of the Union address in 2002, when he stridently hitched together Iraq, Iran and North Korea in an "axis of evil." Now, he says "the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons." The world, please note, not the United States. Five years of misrule, a rapidly awakening citizenry and a bloody nose in Iraq does that, I guess.
Now what will you do, dear Neocons?
Yours truly,
Anwaar Hussain
P.S. Were it not for the chance of innocent human beings getting caught in the crossfire, I would have dared you to go for your guns and faster, please.
*Anwaar Hussain is a former Pakistan Air Force F-16 fighter pilot. With a Masters in Defense and Strategic Studies from Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad, he now resides in United Arab Emirates. He has published a series of articles in Defense Journal, South Asia Tribune and a host of other web portals. Other than international affairs, Anwaar Hussain has written extensively on the religious and political issues that plague Pakistan.
Sacred sites are the most loved and visited places on planet earth. Since prehistoric times they have exerted a mysterious attraction on billions of pilgrims from every region and religion. These holy places have the power to heal the body, enlighten the mind, and awaken the soul. Anthropologist Martin Gray spent 20 years as a wandering pilgrim to study and artistically photograph 1000 sacred sites in 80 countries. This web site features Martin’s sacred art photographs and shows the location of sacred places and pilgrimage shrines around the world.
AZTEC RELIGION AND RITUAL (see the rituals in the background to the right)
Archaeology & Ancient Culture
Academy of Ancient Texts
America's Stonehenge
Ancient American
Ancient Celtic New Zealand (?)
Ancient Civilizations
Ancient Manuscripts
Ancient Mexico
Ancient Scripts
Angkor
Ape-Man
Aztec Lore
The Book of the Dead
Cavemen
Caves of South America
Cuneiform
Damnation of the Crystal Skulls
Egypt and Art
Explore The Pyramids
Face on the Mayan Calendar
Franck Goddio (Underwater Ruins)
Secret Meaning of the Futhark Runes
Gateway to Ancient Egypt
Geometry of the Incas (mute speaker)
Great Serpent Mounds
Hellenic Culture
How the SunGod Reached America
International World History Project
Irish Genius
Knowth.com
Labyrinthia
Ley Lines
Leys/Ley Lines
The Mayan Calendar
The Maya Ruins Page
Mayan Majix
Mississippian Artifacts
Modern Ruins
Mysteries in Stone
Mysterious Places
Mythical Ireland
Omniglot (Writing Systems)
Orion Mystery
Pyramids of New Zealand
Remains of the Giants
The Rune Stone
The Sacred Island
SacredRoad
Sacred Sites
Secret Chambers in the Rockies
Secrets of the Pyramids
Serpent Mound Mysteries
Seven Wonders Of The World
Skull Valley Goshutes
Songs of Isis
Stone Circles
Stonehenge-Avebury
Stone of Heaven
Stones of Stennes
Symbols in Christian Art & Architecture
The Temple of Mu
The Sumerians
Tunnels of Cu Chi
Tutankhamun Murdered?
Underground Cities of Cappadocia
Webhotep Ancient Egyptian Mysteries
Mekong River Floating Market and boat trip tour in southern Vietnam
Delphic Oracle's Lips May Have Been Loosened by Gas Vapors
Top-20 Websites: Where DO we spend our time online?
Why let all of your ideas die with you? Current Copyright law prevents anyone from building upon your creativity for 70 years after your death. Live on in collaboration with others. Make an intellectual property donation. By donating your IP into the public domain you will "promote the progress of science and useful arts" (U.S. Constitution). Ensure that your creativity will live on after you are gone, make a donation today.
Stalingrad | 1942-1943
Photos from the soviet photographer
Georgii Anatolyevian Zelma (Uzbeki, 1906-1984)
Demons A-Z
Battlefield Heroes Trailer Released!
To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.
Dreams
Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die,
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams.
For if dreams go,
Life is a barren field
Covered with snow.
" Smoking Kills "
The Mysterious Megaliths of New England
Go to any website through Vff.us. You can go to websites blocked at your offices, schools or any others. All websites Facebook, Orkut, Myspace etc are easily accessible. Therefore start unblocking now!!
Images, Photography, Pictures, modern digital art work, and wallpaper
An internet resource.
Beautiful travel, nature, and artistic images, photography, and pictures.
top 10 travel lists
the top ten winners in nine travel categories
The Native Arts of
The Americas & Oceania
Meso America
General Region
This region consists of present day Middle and South Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and parts of Honduras and El Salvador. The people that lived in this area had many similarities in their culture, like their calendars, gods and the ballgame, but their languages and customs were different.
South America, 1900 a.d.–present
read more...
Maya iconography, art, religion, architecture, engineering, history, politics, literature and social life as reflected in their sites in the Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco, Chiapas, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize
The Olmec World
Teotihuacan; City of the Gods
THE ZAPOTEC WORLD
MESOAMERICA AFTER THE FALL OF TEOTIHUACAN
THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS AND THE GULF COAST
THE TOLTEC AND AZTEC WORLD
MIKE RUGGERI’S
ANCIENT ANDEAN WORLD
read more...
ANCIENT CARAL, ASPERO, CHACHAPOYAS, CHANCAY, CHAN CHAN, CHANKILLO, CHAVIN, CHIMU, CHINCHIRRO, CHIRIBAYA, CUPINISQUE, GALLINAZO, HUARI, ICA-CHINCA, INCA, LAMBAYEQUE, LIMA CULTURE, MOCHE, NAZCA, NORTE CHICO, PACHACAMAC, PARACAS, RECUAY, SALINAR, SICAN, TIWANAKU, VICUS, VIRU, WARI (HUARI)
THE MISSISSIPPIAN WORLD
AND THE MOUND BUILDERS
INCLUDING THE ADENA AND HOPEWELL
ANCIENT WEST MEXICO
FROM THE PRE-CLASSIC TO THE TARASCANS
Ancient MesoAmerica News Updates
World Photos : South America
DDB STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY: Pictures of Latin America and the Caribbean
Travelling the Most Exotic Places in the World
ANCIENT WORLD ART
Original Sculptures, Reliefs, Mosaics, Paintings, Frescos, from Cultural and Historical Centers:
BE SURE TO follow (NEXT IN GROUP) links FOR more ART IMAGES at each ANCIENT SITE below.
MEXICO & MIDDLE AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA INDIA NEPAL & SRI LANKA THAILAND CAMBODIA (KAMPUCHEA)
INDONESIA MIDDLE EAST/ASIA ROMAN & GREEK ROCK ART CHURCHES & CATHEDRALS
Travel Central and South America with picturesofplaces.com!
Pictures of Central and South America
Travel Asia with picturesofplaces.com!
Pictures of Asia
Travel the South Pacific with picturesofplaces.com!
Pictures of the South Pacific and Oceania
This website shows some of the most remarkable archaeological finds that have yet been done, many of which have as yet found a very limited public. If an entire city ruins from an unknown civilization would be found in the Sahara, the television crews would crowd the place. A site corresponding to an entire city ruins has been found underwater near the island of Yonaguni, Japan, and this fact is hardly known beyond the communities of scuba divers and supporters of Atlantis. Regular archaeology prefers silence, or a denial of its artificial origins; to proof its artificiality, see the images of turtles found on the main monument, probably more than 10,000 years old.
Kinichná, Quintana Roo, Mexico Tour Or Travel
Pictures And Photos
People
Africa Asia
Japan Tokyo Kansai
Honshu Kyushu
Themes Modern
Industrial Woodwork
Shrines Sculpture Tori
Animals Laos Thailand
Europe Middle East
North America South America
Researchers discover gene that blocks HIV
By Richard Cairney
Stephen Barr
Stephen Barr
Print story | Email story
February 28, 2008 - Edmonton - A team of researchers at the University of Alberta has discovered a gene that is able to block HIV, and in turn prevent the onset of AIDS.
Fear and Loathing in Open Source Marketing »
Top 5 Technology Watch List for 2008
By John | December 21, 2007
It’s that time of the year where everyone is predicting the future. So, here is my obligatory top 5 watch list for 2008.
Welcome to the Encyclopedia Mythica
Please enter the award-winning internet encyclopedia of mythology, folklore, and religion. Here you will find everything from A-gskw to Zveda Vechanyaya, with plenty in between.
The mythology section is divided to six geographical regions: Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania. Each region has many clearly defined subdivisions that will ease your search.
The Folklore section contains general folklore, Arthurian legends, and fascinating folktales from many lands.
Videomitschnitt des Vortrags "Sie haben das Recht zu schweigen" von Udo Vetter (lawblog.de) auf dem 23. Chaos Communication Congress. ... Alle » Durchsuchung, Beschlagnahme, Vernehmung - Strategien für den Umgang mit Polizei und Staatsanwalt
Wer online lebt und arbeitet, tut dies unter den Augen der Strafverfolger. Der Vortrag schildert, wie Durchsuchungen, Vernehmungen und Ermittlungsverfahren ablaufen. Er erklärt, wie man sich gegenüber Polizei und Staatsanwaltschaft richtig verhält.
Talks Bill Strickland: Rebuilding America, one slide show at a time
About this Talk
With subtle accompaniment by longtime friend Herbie Hancock, and a slide show that has opened the minds (and pocketbooks) of CEOs across the country, Bill Strickland tells a quiet and astonishing tale of redemption through arts, music and unlikely partnerships.
This is Scott Adams retirement plan:
1. Make a will
2. Pay off your credit cards
3. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support
4. Fund your 401k to the maximum
5. Fund your IRA to the maximum
6. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it
7. Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market account
8. Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker and never touch it until retirement
9. If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio
A scientist who mapped his genome and the genetic diversity of the oceans said Thursday he is creating a life form that feeds on climate-ruining carbon dioxide to produce fuel.
Geneticist Craig Venter disclosed his potentially world-changing "fourth-generation fuel" project at an elite Technology, Entertainment and Design conference in Monterey, California.
"We have modest goals of replacing the whole petrochemical industry and becoming a major source of energy," Venter told an audience that included global warming fighter Al Gore and Google co-founder Larry Page.
"We think we will have fourth-generation fuels in about 18 months, with CO2 as the fuel stock."
Simple organisms can be genetically re-engineered to produce vaccines or octane-based fuels as waste, according to Venter.
Biofuel alternatives to oil are third-generation. The next step is life forms that feed on CO2 and give off fuel such as methane gas as waste, according to Venter.
