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WASHINGTON -- NASA has scheduled a media teleconference Wednesday, May 14, at 1 p.m. EDT, to announce the discovery of an object in our Galaxy astronomers have been hunting for more than 50 years. This finding was made by combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory with ground-based observations.

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So what did they found?
goatsee galaxy?
lets guess what they will announce.

I say they found life on another planet.

178178Comments

Dr_Rand

Obama Apr 24, 08, 5:51 a.m.

"I recognize the risks of talking this way. In an era of globalization and dizzying technological change, cutthroat politics and unremitting culture wars, we don’t even seem to possess a shared language with which to discuss our ideals, much less the tools to arrive at some rough consensus about how, as a nation, we might work together to bring those ideals about. Most of us are wise to the ways of admen, pollsters, speechwriters, and pundits. We know how high-flying words can be deployed in the service of cynical aims, and how the noblest sentiments can be subverted in the name of power, expedience, greed, or intolerance. Even the standard high school history textbook notes the degree to which, from its very inception, the reality of American life has strayed from its myths. In such a climate, any assertion of shared ideals or common values might seem hopelessly naive, if not downright dangerous–an attempt to gloss over serious differences over policy and performance or, worse, a means of muffling the complaints of those who feel ill served by our current institutional arrangements.

My argument, however, is that we have no choice. You don’t need a poll to know that the vast majority of Americans–Republican, Democrat, and independent–are weary of the dead zone that politics has become, in which narrow interests vie for advantage and ideological minorities seek to impose their own versions of absolute truth. Whether we’re from red states or blue states, we feel in our gut the lack of honesty, rigor, and common sense in our policy debates, and dislike what appears to be a continuous menu of false or cramped choices. Religious or secular, black, white, or brown, we sense– correctly–that the nation’s most significant challenges are being ignored, and that if we don’t change course soon, we may be the first generation in a very long time that leaves behind a weaker and more fractured America than the one we inherited. Perhaps more than any other time in our recent history, we need a new kind of politics, one that can excavate and build upon those shared understandings that pull us together as Americans."

166166Comments

ian

Movie quiz… Apr 18, 08, 7:02 a.m.

Anyone else trying to avoid work?
Guess the movie still, whoever gets it right has to post another. Easy one to start off:

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/MMPH/213921~Gary-Oldman-Posters.jpg

171171Comments

TheDrago

2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs Apr 7, 08, 2:19 p.m.

Ok who's gonna take it all and which teams look good.

go rangers!!

213213Comments

Randd

Clinton thread Mar 6, 08, 3:40 p.m.

this is a thread in which I cut and paste infuriating stuff about the way Hillary Clinton is running her campaign. If this doesn't appeal to you, please don't read it.

395395Comments

cosmo

Champions Leauge Sep 17, 07, 9:04 a.m.

Match Day one starts tomorrow.

lets get this thread started.

Tuesday 18th

Marseille vs. Beşiktaş JK
Porto vs. Liverpool
Chelsea vs. Rosenborg
Schalke vs. Valencia
Real Madrid vs. Bremen
Olympiacos vs. Lazio
Milan vs. Benfica
Shakhtar vs. Celtic

Wednesday 19th

Rangers vs. Stuttgart
Barcelona vs. Lyon
Roma vs. Dynamo Kyiv
Sporting vs. Man. United
PSV vs. CSKA Moskva
Fenerbahçe vs. Internazionale
Arsenal vs. Sevilla
Slavia vs. Steaua

927927Comments

CALLES

Einstein On Religion May 13, 08, 8:15 a.m.

LONDON (AFP) - Albert Einstein described belief in God as "childish superstition" and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said Tuesday.

The father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.

As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they "have no different quality for me than all other people".

"The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.

"No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this," he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper.

The German-language letter is being sold Thursday by Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, said the auction house's managing director Rupert Powell.

In it, the renowned scientist, who declined an invitation to become Israel's second president, rejected the idea that the Jews are God's chosen people.

"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions," he said.

"And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people."

And he added: "As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything 'chosen' about them."

Previously the great scientist's comments on religion -- such as "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind" -- have been the subject of much debate, used notably to back up arguments in favour of faith.

Powell said the letter being sold this week gave a clear reflection of Einstein's real thoughts on the subject. "He's fairly unequivocal as to what he's saying. There's no beating about the bush," he told AFP.

Its tuesaday... Discuss

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2008…

140140Comments

digdre