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Life, Nature, Society
10 of the best cities offering quality life measured by traffic congestion, air quality, and personal safety
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Zurich, Switzerland
Mercer score: 108
GDP: $300.9 billion (2007 est.)
Population: 7,581,520 (total country); 347,517 (total city)
Life expectancy: 80.74 years
Vienna, Austria
Mercer score: 107.9
GDP: $319.7 billion (2007 est.)
Population: 8,205,533 (total country); 1,825,287 (total city)
Life expectancy: 79.36 years
Vancouver, Canada
Mercer score: 107.6
GDP: $1.274 trillion (2007 est.)
Population: 33,212,696 (total country); 560,000 (total city)
Life expectancy: 81.16 years
Auckland, New Zealand
Mercer score: 107.3
GDP: $112.6 billion (2007 est.)
Population: 4,173,460 (total country); 1.18 million (total city)
Life expectancy: 80.24 years
Munich, Germany
Mercer score: 107
GDP: $2.833 trillion (2007 est.)
Population: 82,369,548 (total country); 1,332,650 (total city)
Life expectancy: 79.1 years
Sydney, Australia
Mercer score: 106.3
GDP: $766.8 billion (2007 est.)
Population: 20,600,856 (total country); 4,297,100 (total city) read more »
Cartoons: Noah’s Ark - recession edition, Christmassy profit chart, Obama’s senate seat for bail-bonds, & more...
Images courtesy of John Klossner, Mike Peters / Dayton Daily News / King Features Syndicate, P.C. Vey, humor-in-photos-and-pictures.blogspot.com, Nick Anderson / Houston Chronicle, Hajo / CWS, and Riber / Cagle Cartoons
Movie. Tagline of Goya's Ghosts - "Tell me what the truth is". Do you believe truth confessed under torture?
In the award-winning "Goya's Ghosts," set in late 18th-century Spain, a desperate father trying to rescue his innocent daughter attempts to prove that if subjected to torture, even the most innocent man of cloth will confess to the most preposterous absurdities.
After Inés Bilbatua (one of the artist Francesco Goya’s muses) is arrested by the Holy Office, then tortured and forced to make a false confession, her father, Tomas, also a friend of Goya’s, extracts revenge on Lorenzo, forcing him to make a confession of his own.
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From the movie:
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Inquisitor: Were you served pork?
Inés Bilbatua: But I didn’t have any. I don’t like it. I don’t like the taste.
Inquisitor: Are you prepared to swear on the Holy Cross?
Inés Bilbatua: I swear on Jesus’ sacred wound, I’m telling you the truth.
Inés Bilbatua: And I would suppose you would not object if you are given an opportunity to prove it?
Inquisitor: No. I would be grateful. How would you like me to prove it?
(The girl was then brutally tortured - i.e., put to “The Question”.)
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(Inés’ family invites Brother Lorenzo and family friend Artist Francesco Goya to dine at their home to seek Lorenzo’s help with rescuing their daughter.)
Brother Lorenzo: I presume that you are anxious to have some news of your daughter.
Inés’ father, Tomas: Oh, yes. Extremely so. She has never, ever been away. Have you seen her?
Brother Lorenzo: (Regarding her release,) I couldn’t say. She must stand trial.
Inés’ father: Stand trial? read more »
Zarya, 1st launched module of International Space Station (ISS), lifted into orbit 10 years ago on 20Nov1998
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Last month marks the 10th anniversary of the first launched module of the International Space Station (ISS). The module Zarya was lifted into orbit on November 20th, 1998 by a Russian Proton rocket lifting off from Baikonur, Kazhakstan. In the decade since, 44 manned flights and 34 unmanned flights have carried further modules, solar arrays, support equipment, supplies and a total of 167 human beings from 15 countries to the ISS, and it still has a ways to go until it is done. Originally planned to be complete in 2003, the target date for completion is now 2011. Aside from time spent on construction, ISS crew members work on a good deal of research involving biology and physics in conditions of microgravity. If humans are ever to leave the Earth for extended periods, the ISS is designed to be the place where we will discover the best materials, procedures and safety measures to make it a reality.
I’ll be gone to the battlefield/ Don’t wait for me long...darling/ Just hand me our engagement ring/ Remember me yet you’re free
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Soldier’s Engagement Ring
by LuCxeed
I’ll be gone to the battlefield
Don’t cry, my darling
Just return to me our engagement ring
I’ll be gone to the battlefield
Don’t wait for me long, my darling
Just hand me our engagement ring
Remember me yet you’re free
I’ll ever hold the pair of rings
To my heart as I’m holding you now, my darling
I’ll be gone to the battlefield
Don’t cry. Don’t cry, my darling
Just return to me our engagement ring
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From pages 53 & 54 of the upcoming book: Love’s Footsteps ~ dedicated to a Bridge for Wisdom to Walk on
Bailout logic? Ted Turner: "I've never asked for a bailout. Where does it end?" Big Three asks for $25 billion
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Time: “What did you think of the $700 billion bailout plan?”
Turner: “When I was running CNN we never had any money and I never asked for a bailout. Where does it end? AIG, you know, they need $40 billion more and we only gave them a hundred billion last week, didn't we? It's just ridiculous. And now General Motors. They said we're going to give them $25 billion to retool. Retool what? They'll run through that money so fast they'll be back wanting more. We can't keep every loser alive.”
Wall Street sputters on weak data, bailout doubts read more »
Where top talents go, so does Nobel Prize. Japan shares chemistry prize, splits physics award with American scientists
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The Nobel Prize (Swedish: Nobelpriset) is a Swedish prize, established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; in his will, he used his enormous fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes. The synthetic element nobelium was named after him. It was first awarded in Peace, Literature, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Physics in 1901. An associated prize, The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was instituted by Sweden's central bank in 1968 and first awarded in 1969.
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