WHERE DO OLD PHONE CORDS GO? OUT TO PASTURE.
Every one of these sheep is made from telephones and cords . .. Check out their feet!

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http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16295.html
Published: 11/17/2009 02:37am
Most Walmarts in the U.S. will stay open overnight on Thanksgiving to prevent overcrowding. The flow of customers through the stores and the handling of limited quantity doorbusters is also being changed. Black Friday sales will begin at 5 a.m. on Friday.
The steps are being taken to avoid the overcrowding that led to the trampling death of a temporary worker at a New York store on Black Friday last year.
Disney Stores will also be open in the wee hours, with over 100 of its 200 stores planning to open at midnight. The remaining stores plan to open at 5 a.m. Disney Stores will be discounting most store contents by 20%, plus offering one day sales.
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This is from a friend of mine in Colorado. lkm
Just wanted to let ya'll know meteor-watchers get their big break in the coming weeks with the return of the Leonid meteor shower. This prolific shower comes at a perfect time this year, peaking the night of November 16/17 during November's New Moon. According to Astronomy Senior Editor Richard Talcott, "If the weather cooperates, viewing conditions should be nearly ideal. Observers normally can see 20 to 30 meteors per hour at the peak, but rates could spike considerably this year."
Astronomers predict that we should enjoy enhanced meteor rates November 17, most likely between about 1:30 a.m. EST and sunrise. Another rate increase — with numbers reaching 500 meteors per hour for brief periods — may happen later that day, timed well for observers across Asia. The higher rates arise because that's when Earth passes through the thickest part of the debris trail comet Tempel-Tuttle left behind. Although the high estimates may make observers salivate, predicting the number of meteors is akin to predicting the number of snowflakes in a storm. Lucky observers could see hundreds of meteors, but unluckier ones might see only a dozen. So... take a nap or set your alarm, bundle up grab a lawn chair and let's see who records seeing the most meteor's! Fun! P.S. Steve say's the best way to do this is have a piece of paper and pencil and just make a mark each time you see a meteor, then when your done you can count the marks all them up.
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"This pike was caught on the 6th of March 2006 by Dutch fisherman Ewout Blom in a pretty big lake in the south of Holland, I know the name of the lake from where quite a number of 40 plus pikes were caught and released but promised not to mention the name to avoid too heavy fishing pressure. "This pike had a length of 127 cm and a weight of 19,5 kilo and was caught trolling with a Rapala Super Shad Rap in perch colour and I have about 10 original digital pictures of this fish" For the metric-impaired (such as yours truly), 127cm and 19.4 kilos works out to right around 50 inches, and just barely shy of 43 pounds... So, not 50 pounds, NOT Rainy Lake...
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http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20091115/Obama/
BEIJING — President Barack Obama pointedly nudged China on Monday to stop censoring Internet access, offering an animated defense of the tool that helped him win the White House and suggesting Beijing need not fear a little criticism.
The president's message during a town hall-style meeting with university students in Shanghai, China's commercial hub, focused on one of the trickiest issues separating China's communist government and the United States — human rights.
It was a delicately balanced message and Obama couched his admonitions with words calling for cooperation, heavy with praise and American humility.
"I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable," Obama told students during his first-ever trip to China. "They can begin to think for themselves."
The first-term U.S. president then flew to Beijing where Obama quickly drove to the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse for Obama's third meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Trade, climate change and economic issues were expected to dominate. The two leaders had dinner in the government complex and were scheduled to meet again Tuesday.
In brief remarks before their initial talks, Hu noted Obama's meeting with students, calling the session "quite lively."
Obama smiled broadly, throughout the Chinese leaders welcoming remarks, then told Hu that "the world recognizes the importance of the U.S.-Chinese relationship" in tackling global problems.
Obama's message, aside from his proddings on human rights, was clear: few global challenges can be solved unless the world's only superpower and its rising competitor work together. He and his advisers have insisted in virtually all public utterances since he arrived in Japan on Friday: "We do not seek to contain China's rise."
Talk at dinner involved the respective histories of the two countries, and both Hu and Obama outlined the economic challenges his country is confronting. The pair also swapped ideas about the significance education plays in the advancement of their people.
During Obama's opening statement to university students in Shanghai, he spoke bluntly about the benefits of individual freedoms in a country known for limiting them.
"We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation," Obama said. Then he added that freedom of expression and worship, unfettered access to information and unrestricted political participation are not unique to the United States; instead, he called them "universal rights."
The line offered echoes of Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, who often talked of the "universality of freedom." Obama talked at length about the Internet, which he said helped him win the presidency because it allowed for the mobilization of young people like those in his audience in Shanghai.
"I'm a big supporter of non-censorship," Obama said. "I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet — or unrestricted Internet access is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged."
Given where Obama was speaking, such a comment carried strong implications. And he appeared to be talking directly to China's leaders when he said that he believes free discussion, including criticism that he sometimes finds annoying, makes him "a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don't want to hear."
China has more than 250 million Internet users and employs some of the world's tightest controls over what they see. The country is often criticized for having the so-called "Great Firewall of China," which refers to technology designed to prevent unwanted traffic from entering or leaving a network.
Obama's town hall was not broadcast live across China on television. It was shown on local Shanghai TV and streamed online on two big national Internet portals, but the quality was choppy and hard to hear.
Obama is in the midst of a weeklong Asia trip. He came with a vast agenda of security, economic and environmental concerns, although always looming was how he would deal with human rights while in China.
His China visit features the only sightseeing of his journey. He will visit the Forbidden City, home of former emperors in Beijing, and the centuries-old Great Wall outside of the city. Aides have learned that finding some tourist time calms and energize their boss amid the grueling schedule of an international trip.
U.S. ambassador Jon Huntsman called Obama's event the first ever town-hall meeting held by a U.S. president in China. Yet former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also spoke to students and took questions from them during stops in China.
China is a huge and lucrative market for American goods and services, and yet it has a giant trade surplus with the U.S. that, like a raft of other economic issues, is a bone of contention between the two governments. The two militaries have increased their contacts, but clashes still happen and the United States remains worried about a dramatic buildup in what is already the largest standing army in the world.
Amid all that, Obama has adopted a pragmatic approach that stresses the positive, sometimes earning him criticism for being too soft on Beijing — particularly in the area of human rights abuses and what the United States regards as an undervalued Chinese currency that disadvantages U.S. products.
The two nations are working together more than ever on battling global warming, but they still differ deeply over hard targets for reductions in the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause it. China has supported sterner sanctions to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but it still balks at getting more aggressive about reining in Iran's uranium enrichment.
Obama recognizes that a rising China, as the world's third-largest economy — on its way to becoming the second — and the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, has shifted the dynamic more toward one of equals. For instance, Chinese questions about how Washington spending policies will affect the already soaring U.S. deficit and the safety of Chinese investments now must be answered by Washington.
The White House hoped Monday's town hall meeting with Chinese university students would allow Obama to telegraph U.S. values — through its successes and failures — to the widest Chinese audience possible.
But those hopes had their limits in communist-ruled China.
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http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/16281.html
Published: 11/05/2009, Last Updated: 11/08/2009 11:05pm
Wal-Mart has opened a new front in the online holiday price war by offering ten new DVD releases for $9.99 on a preorder basis. The DVDs included in the Wal-Mart online only offer include: Star Trek (MSRP $26.99, streets 11/17), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian ($29.98, 12/01), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($28.98, 12/08), Angels and Demons ($28.96, 11/24), Four Christmases ($28.98, 11/24), G-Force ($29.99, 12/15), My Sister’s Keeper ($28.98, 11/17), Terminator Salvation ($28.99, 12/01), Julie and Julia ($28.96, 12/08), and Santa’s Buddies ($29.98, 11/24). All the DVDs are standard single-disc editions. Wal-Mart’s discounts range from 63% to 67% off the retail price.
By treating DVDs as loss leaders, Wal-Mart has expanded the online price war that it began by offering a similar $10 deal on preorders for a number of bestselling hardcover books due out for the current holiday season (see “Online Book Price War”). Amazon.com has already matched Wal-Mart's $10 price on the ten DVDs. When Target and Amazon matched Wal-Mart’s $10 price on the hardcover bestsellers, Wal-Mart lowered its price on the books to $8.99, so this round of DVD price cuts may not have reached its end.
In response to the online book price war the American Booksellers Association asked the Justice Department to investigate the online booksellers “illegal predatory pricing” (see “Booksellers Go to Dept. of Justice”).
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Let me see if I understand all of this... IF YOU CROSS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET 12 YEARS HARD LABOR. IF YOU CROSS THE IRANIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU ARE DETAINED INDEFINITELY. IF YOU CROSS THE AFGHAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU GET SHOT. IF YOU CROSS THE SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE JAILED. IF YOU CROSS THE CHINESE BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU MAY NEVER BE HEARD FROM AGAIN. IF YOU CROSS THE VENEZUELAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE BRANDED A SPY AND YOUR FATE WILL BE SEALED. IF YOU CROSS THE CUBAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE THROWN INTO POLITICAL PRISON TO ROT. IF YOU CROSS THE U. S. BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET A JOB, A DRIVERS LICENSE, SOCIAL SECURITY CARD, WELFARE, FOOD STAMPS, CREDIT CARDS, SUBSIDIZED RENT OR A LOAN TO BUY A HOUSE, FREE EDUCATION, FREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE, FREE HEALTH CARE, A LOBBYIST IN WASHINGTON, AND AN ACORN EMPLOYEE WILL SEARCH FOR YOU AT ELECTION TIME TO DRIVE YOU TO THE POLLS, GET YOU A BALLOT, AND HELP YOU BY POINTING OUT WHICH CANDIDATES ARE THE DEMOCRATS.
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