TheGimp

short?

as messed up as it sounds...i would honestly prolly start laughing my ass off...i'm far from racist and find it to be a pointless feeling to hate someone based on skin color...but i would laugh..i dunno why

lol no offense taken quite alright

The turritopsis nutricula species of jellyfish may be the only animal in the world to have truly discovered the fountain of youth. Since it is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again, there may be no natural limit to its life span. Scientists say the hydrozoan jellyfish is the only known animal that can repeatedly turn back the hands of time and revert to its polyp state (its first stage of life). The key lies in a process called transdifferentiation, where one type of cell is transformed into another type of cell. Some animals can undergo limited transdifferentiation and regenerate organs, such as salamanders, which can regrow limbs. Turritopsi nutricula, on the other hand, can regenerate its entire body over and over again. Researchers are studying the jellyfish to discover how it is able to reverse its aging process. Because they are able to bypass death, the number of individuals is spiking. They're now found in oceans around the globe rather than just in their native Caribbean waters. "We are looking at a worldwide silent invasion," says Dr. Maria Miglietta of the Smithsonian Tropical Marine Institute.

You Are the Cheshire Cat You are strangely illusive and provocative. You tend to stir up trouble and then disappear quickly. You sure know how to push other people's buttons, but it's difficult for anyone to push yours. You are mysterious and crafty. You tend to be lurking in the background, and you show up at the most unexpected times. You are purposely vague and baffling. Trying to figure you out will just drive people crazy! really

Black people must leave, NJ Walmart announcer says WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) -- A Walmart store announcement ordering black people to leave brought chagrin and apologies Wednesday from leaders of the company, which has built a fragile trust among minority communities. A male voice came over the public-address system Sunday evening at a store in Washington Township, in southern New Jersey, and calmly announced: "Attention, Walmart customers: All black people, leave the store now." Shoppers in the store at the time said a manager quickly got on the public-address system and apologized for the remark. And while it was unclear whether a rogue patron or an employee was responsible for the comment, many customers expressed their anger to store management. "I want to know why such statements are being made, because it flies in the face of what we teach our children about tolerance for all," said Sheila Ellington, who was in the store at the time with a friend. "If this was meant to be a prank, there's only one person laughing, and it's not either one of us." Ellington, of Monroe, and her friend Patricia Covington said they plan to boycott the retailer until they're assured the issue has been addressed so it doesn't happen again. The pair said they were stunned when they heard the announcement and initially believed they had misheard it. But once the words sank in, they grew angry. "I depended on Walmart for all my needs, because the store has pretty much everything you could want," Covington said. "But until this issue is addressed in a way I'm comfortable with, I can't walk through those doors again." Officials with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., said that the announcement was "unacceptable" and that they're trying to determine who made it and how it happened. "We are just as appalled by this incident as our customers," the company said in a statement. "Whoever did this is just wrong and acted in an inappropriate manner. Clearly, this is completely unacceptable to us and to our customers." This is not the first time the retailer has faced such problems. There have been several past instances of black customers claiming they were treated unfairly at Walmart stores, and the company faced lawsuits alleging that women were passed over in favor of men for pay raises and promotions. In February 2009, the retailer paid $17.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in its hiring of truck drivers. And the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the company in May 2009, claiming some Hispanic employees at a Sam's Club subsidiary in California were subjected to a hostile work environment. That suit alleges managers failed to stop repeated verbal harassment, including the use of derogatory words, against employees of Mexican descent. However, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has said the company has worked hard in recent years to show it cares about diversity. Bill Mitchell, a former Walmart employee who was shopping Wednesday at the store, said that he was saddened to hear about the announcement but that "as a black man, I've heard worse things." As customer Sharon Osbourne, of Williamstown, left the store Wednesday, she called the announcement "appalling, stupid and sad."

By Daniel B. Wood Daniel B. Wood – Mon Mar 15, 7:24 pm ET Los Angeles – US immigrant populations are spreading out, a study released Monday found. New immigrants and their US-born descendants are expected to grow by 117 million by 2050, making up 82 percent of the US population growth over that period, and will “have important implications for housing demand at a time when aging baby boomers are expected to retire and leave the housing market,” the study predicts. New immigrants who once flocked to the large "gateway" cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Chicago are now heading for smaller metropolitan areas like Detroit and Minneapolis, Colorado Springs, Colo., Sarasota, Fla., and El Paso, Tex., according to the the study, released by the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southen California. The census data used for the study didn't take into account respondents' legal status. “Every city in the US is getting a sizable immigration population,” said Gary Painter, director of research at the Lusk Center and co-author of the study, in a phone interview. “We are no longer a country where immigration is largely confined to just a few places.” The typical immigrant seen in these new places is likely to have been in the US fewer than 10 years, he says, whereas the typical immigrant in a larger city has likely been here much longer. The implication of this is that new immigrants probably have less English language skills, are less likely to be integrated, and are less likely to own a home. “We found that the immigrant communities in these smaller metro areas are much less developed," Mr. Painter said. "The questions we need to ask ourselves are 'what sorts of policies do we want to pursue because of this?' ” The study, “Immigrants and Housing Markets in Mid-Size Metropolitan Areas” by Painter and co-author Zhou Yu, an assistant professor at the University of Utah, looked at census data from 2000 to 2005 in 60 cities with housing priced lower than in the major gateway cities. Over those five years, these mid-size areas showed an average 27 percent rise in new immigrant population at the same time that more traditional gateways registered a 6 percent decline. Painter and Yu found that immigrants continue to have lower homeownership rates than native-born Americans having the same income and education levels. "Many of these immigrants may be waiting for other family members to join them before setting down more permanent roots," explained Painter, who plans future research into the disparity in homeownership rates. Immigration watchers draw various lessons from the findings. "Newly arriving immigrants are likely to settle where there are job opportunities and affordable places to live,†Others point to wider trends. “I’m not sure how much this says about immigration, per se, that immigrants are avoiding – like the rest of us – large cities which are clogged with employment, the cost of living is higher, taxes are higher, and the quality of life is deteriorating,” says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C. Some immigrants' rights groups say the move to smaller cities makes sense. “Given the negative attitudes towards immigrants, the incessant persecution by immigration agents, and the lack of jobs," says Jorge-Mario Cabrera of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, “immigrants may believe that smaller cities offer all the right options: a place to live unnoticed, a somewhat welcoming environment, and less competition for lower-paying jobs.” Still others question whether it’s too soon to draw too many conclusions because of the heated political climate, the recent downturn in the economy, and the coming 2010 census. “This study is only looking at home ownership and may be overtaken by the next census,” says Karthick Ramakrishnan, who studies immigration patterns and demographics at the University of California, Riverside. “There are many variables that need to be examined because of the push and pull over immigrants – some declaring that they drag the economy down and others saying it props them up.”

Mind reading may have taken a step away from the realm of science fiction, thanks to a new study in which researchers taught a computer to spot specific memories as a person was having them. To be sure, science is a long way off from hooking people up to a device and knowing their thoughts. But the study showed that past events leave unique "memory traces" in a portion of the brain called the hippocampus, traces that can be distinguished from one another in brain scans. The study is in the March 11 online issue of Current Biology. "We found that our memories are definitely represented in the hippocampus," senior study author Eleanor Maguire, a professor at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London, said in statement. "Now that we've seen where they are, we have an opportunity to understand how memories are stored and how they may change through time." In the experiment, researchers had 10 people view three short films multiple times and asked them to memorize what they saw. The seven-second films showed different actresses in common, relatively similar scenarios: In one, a woman searched through her purse to find an envelope and then dropped it in a mailbox; in another, a woman finished a cup of coffee and dropped the cup in a trash can. That type of recollection is considered an episodic memory, or an a memory of a collection of events, as opposed to a semantic memory, such as being able to recall a fact, or an implicit memory, such as being able to tie your shoes, explained Martin Monti, a neuroscientist at the Medical Research Council's Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge, England. Afterward, participants were asked to recall either a specific film, or any one of the films, while having their brains scanned using functional MRI. While scans cannot actually look at the firing of groups of neurons (called voxels), it does report changes in blood flow that signal activity in particular brain areas, Monti explained. A computer algorithm then analyzed the patterns generated when the participants "remembered" and attempted to identify which film the volunteer was recalling. The computer could accurately predict with about 45 percent accuracy which film a person was thinking about during the scan. Since there were three films, chance would have provided about 33 percent accuracy. "The algorithm was able to predict correctly which of the three films the volunteer was recalling significantly above what would be expected by chance," lead study author Martin Chadwick, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London, said in a statement. "This suggests that [people's] memories are recorded in a regular pattern." Previous research has shown the hippocampus, located deep within the brain's medial temporal lobe, is associated with creating and consolidating memories. That's basically the brain's process of putting together sights, sounds and smells, all of which may be processed in different areas of the brain, and bringing them together in a memory, Monti said. So, will scientists one day be able to use brains scans to read your mind? That's probably a long way off, because fMRIs are a technically advanced—but still rather crude—means of viewing neuronal activity. And though researchers were able to tell the difference between memories in the strict confines of the lab, that's a far cry from being able to "read" the memories that make up the whole of the human experience, Monti said. "Our tools are not that fine-grained. It's like trying to read a book when you don't know the language and your eyeglasses are crummy," he said. One of the beauties of such an experiment, however, is the possibility that a better understanding of the brain could open the door to new treatments for memory problems, said Paul Sanberg, a professor of neurosurgery and director of the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair. "The study confirms these memories are found within the hippocampus," Sanberg said. "The more we understand about memories and how they are formed and stored, the closer we will get to understanding problems people have with memories, whether from injuries, aging or degenerative disease."

http://www.urbanspoon.com/f/208/21907/Michigan/Burger-Joints there ya go

like i should go to bed...this weekend, week for that matter was fuckin nuts...to many up and down moments

turning the clocks forward and "losing" and hour is a bitch

Happy Birthday

http://green.yahoo.com/blog/guest_bloggers/24/all-black-penguin-discovered.html

I'm thinkin Man up Gimp

i feel like a fucking girl...>.< i dont understand myself i feel stupid as well i dont understand how you can only "see" someone for 2 months and then separate...and it feel like it lasted longer then that... I know I'm much smarter and stronger then this i shouldnt be upset for such a short lived relationship arg...

ACKSON, Miss. – An 18-year-old Mississippi lesbian student whose school district canceled her senior prom rather than allow her to escort her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo said she got some unfriendly looks from classmates when she reluctantly returned to campus Thursday. Constance McMillen said she didn't want to go back the day after the Itawamba County school board's decision, but her father told her she needed to face her classmates, teachers and school officials. "My daddy told me that I needed to show them that I'm still proud of who I am," McMillen told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "The fact that this will help people later on, that's what's helping me to go on." The district announced Wednesday it wouldn't host the April 2 prom. The decision came after the American Civil Liberties Union told officials a policy banning same-sex prom dates violated students' rights. The ACLU said the district not letting McMillen wear a tuxedo violated her free expression rights. McMillen said she felt some hostility toward her on the Itawamba County Agricultural High School campus. "Somebody said, 'Thanks for ruining my senior year.'" McMillen said. The school board issued a statement announcing it wouldn't host the event in Fulton, "due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events." The statement didn't mention McMillen or the ACLU. When asked by the AP if McMillen's demand led to the cancellation, school board attorney Michele Floyd said she could only reference the statement. "I guess they would rather do that than what's right, what's constitutionally correct," McMillen said. Same-sex prom dates and cross-dressing are new issues for many high schools around the country, said Daryl Presgraves, a spokesman for GLSEN: Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a Washington-based advocacy group. "A lot of schools actually react rather than do the research and find out what the rights of these students are," said Presgraves, who was preparing to facilitate a discussion about anti-gay bullying at a National Association of Secondary School Principals meeting. The school district had said it hoped a privately sponsored prom could be held. McMillen said if that happens, she's sure she'll be excluded. "It's a small town in Mississippi, and it's run by an older generation with money. Most of them are more conservative and they don't agree with it," she said. Fulton Mayor Paul Walker said he supports the school district's decision and knew of no private efforts to host the prom. "I think the community as a whole is probably in support of the school district," Walker said of the town of about 4,000. Itawamba County is a rural area of about 23,000 people in north Mississippi near the Alabama state line. It's near Pontotoc County, Miss., where more than a decade ago school officials were sued in federal court over their practice of student-led intercom prayer and Bible classes. A couple of students had different reactions to the decision. Anna Watson, a 17-year-old junior at the high school, was looking forward to the prom, especially since the town's only hotspot is the bowling alley, she said. "I am a little bummed out about it. I guess it's a decision that had to be made. Either way someone was going to get disappointed — either Constance was or we were," Watson said. "I don't agree with homosexuality, but I can't change what another person thinks or does." McKenzie Chaney, 16, said she wasn't planning to attend the prom, but "it's kind of ridiculous that they can't let her wear the tuxedo and it all be over with." A Feb. 5 memo to students laid out the criteria for bringing a date to the prom, and one requirement was that the person must be of the opposite sex. Presgraves said his organization hears about school districts that prohibit same-sex prom dates and gay-straight alliance clubs at schools. He said those kind of policies are detrimental to gay students. "It sends a message that these students shouldn't be treated the same," Presgraves said.

yep...granite we werent boyfriend and girlfriend just really close FWB but yep...hung out with her and her mom last night cooked me dinner and on the way home she pretty much said yea i dont really wanna see ya anymore...

Michael Jackson's former bodyguards have spoken out about their late boss, revealing the King of Pop romanced a string of women with dates in the back of his limousine. The "Thriller" hit maker's longterm security guards, Mike Garcia, Bill Whitfield and Javon "B.J." Beard, were interviewed on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday. RELATED: Michael Jackson's life in pictures And the trio divulged personal details of the late singer's life behind closed doors, insisting Jackson had at least two steady girlfriends whose identities have remained a secret, and that he took them on dates driving up and down the Las Vegas strip when he lived in Sin City. When asked about the child molestation charges which were levied at Jackson despite his acquittal at a 2005 trial, all three insisted the star was not guilty of the accusations. RELATED: 2009, In Memoriam Whitfield says, "Being a man... men know men, and we (were) around him long enough to know he was a man." While Garcia adds, "(He had) desires of women like we do. He had lovers." Whitfield goes on to describe Jackson's various romantic encounters in the back of his limousine: "In the cars that we had, we had a curtain that covered the back seat. You couldn't see in the back seat. They talked back there, they didn't do nothing out of bounds ... you can hear the kissing." RELATED: Child services investigates stun gun at Jackson home The bodyguards also described Jackson's life as one full of "stress, paranoia and pain," in which he remained isolated out of fear for his family's security. However, they went on to describe him as being an "awesome" dad, whose children were very polite and full of love for their father, who often tried to protect them from learning about the negative perception of him in the press. Wonderwall HomePhoto Galleries Continue Reading » Edit title is suppose to be "string of lovers" not sting my bad >.<

I'm thinking..."wow way to pretty much "dump" me on my birthday....awesome!!!"

disappointed, sad, I'm so fucking done celebrating my birthday 3 years in a fucking row some fucked up shit has to bring me down on it...i quit

thank you Cougar *runs*

its eerie i was thinking the same thing...although he said it was a picture from teh 80's either before my time or i was but a small wee one then...*shrugs*

what the hell is The Game

i give anyone credit British militray. US military or whatever as long as there saving lives...all good in my book

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100309/wl_nm/us_britain_grenade LONDON (Reuters) – A soldier serving with the British Army in Afghanistan has told of the moment he threw back a Taliban hand grenade, telling himself: "I've really only got one chance to do this." Rifleman James McKie from Recce Platoon, 3rd Battalion The Rifles was under fire from three directions on a roof when the grenade hit his platoon commander and landed at his feet. "My first thought was I hope this doesn't hurt too much," the New Zealander said. "That, and I've really only got one chance to do this. "If it fails, either way, doing nothing, I'm going to get the same amount of hurt. So I picked it up and threw it off the roof." It exploded in mid-air just seconds later, sending shrapnel flying. A media statement from The Rifles at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, which carried McKie's account, said his actions helped to save the lives of his commander and one other soldier who were involved in a fire-fight in the Sangin area of Helmand province, where six British soldiers have been killed in the last week. "We were in a high position on a compound roof," McKie went on. "There was no way you could throw yourself off and not get injured, so I made a decision to pick up the grenade and throw it off the roof. "I tried to throw it properly, to clear the roof. I didn't want to do it half-arsed and have them throw it back at us or anything like that. "I remember thinking that if I didn't pull this off, it was going to hurt. But at that stage I was pretty much committed." McKie sustained fragmentation injuries to his right arm and face as the grenade exploded mid air, close to where he stood. Fragmentation also hit his Platoon commander Captain Graeme Kerr who received leg injuries and who is recovering at Selly Oak Hospital in Britain. "In retrospect, people keep telling me how brave I am, which I'm slightly embarrassed about," said McKie, who previously served in the New Zealand army. "I'd like to think that anyone in that situation would have done the same or something similar because you can't just sit there and let yourself or other people get hurt. "I don't feel particularly brave. I thought: I have to do this to survive.