Just because it is right

Show your support for survivors of domestic violence. Each click gets a $1 donation from the Allstate Foundation to the assistance fund. Good deal, eh?

Click to Empower

With the New Year comes new beginnings, but for many in domestic violence relationships it is a continuous struggle to survive. You have a chance to make a difference.

For many domestic violence survivors, economic empowerment is critical to their long term self-sufficiency. The Education and Job Training Assistance Fund enables survivors to pursue long-term financial security by providing much needed financial assistance for education, training and job-related expenses such as books and supplies for school, tuition and registration fees.

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Words, words, words

somniloquy (som-NIL-uh-kwee) noun
The act or habit of talking while asleep.

diurnation (dy-uhr-NAY-shuhn) noun
The habit of sleeping or being dormant during the day.

soporose (SOP-uh-ros) adjective
Sleepy; in an unusually deep sleep.

Quiz

Although slightly better than random guessing, I got only 5 of these.

Trivia Quiz: Weird City Names
Going no place for your vacation this summer? Why not go to No Place, England instead -- or to one of the ten cities listed below? Believe it or not, these are all real place names. Can you guess in which state or country each one is located?

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One-stop shopping

This is a clear picture of primary voting. All that is missing are the 'internals' laying out who voted for who.

Primary Season Election Results

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Getting spacey

What caused this outburst of V838 Mon? For reasons unknown, star V838 Mon's outer surface suddenly greatly expanded with the result that it became the brightest star in the entire Milky Way Galaxy in January 2002. Then, just as suddenly, it faded. A stellar flash like this has never been seen before -- supernovas and novas expel matter out into space. Although the V838 Mon flash appears to expel material into space, what is seen in the above image from the Hubble Space Telescope is actually an outwardly moving light echo of the bright flash. In a light echo, light from the flash is reflected by successively more distant rings in the complex array of ambient interstellar dust that already surrounded the star. V838 Mon lies about 20,000 light years away toward the constellation of the unicorn (Monoceros), while the light echo above spans about six light years in diameter.

This is one of those stories which makes me imediately search for a local application.

Nigerian 5-Year-Olds Repair OLPCs in "Hospital"

Affordable Laptops Are Simple to Repair
Greener Gadgets Conference in New York City, former One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) CTO Mary Lou Jepsen explained that the discount laptops have met with a number of roadbumps in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation. Part of the problem has been wavering support from lawmakers there and negative local press. But part of the problem has been literal bumps.

Jepsen explained that children in Nigeria learn at metal desks that are bolted together in pairs. They are supposed to seat two young learners, but more typically seat five in common crowding conditions. This means the desks are constantly getting jostled around, and the brand-new XO OLPCs get knocked to the floor. Even though they were built to be extremely rugged, occasionally a screen or other component will get broken.

In the developing world, a consumer can't just drive to the nearest repair shop. That's why Jepsen and team designed the XO to be so easily repairable (it even comes with embedded extra screws). The key components can be easily swapped out with a screwdriver, including the $1 backlight for the LCD display (something that usually cannot be readily replaced on typical laptops). Even motherboards can be swapped out easily, though actually repairing one takes some expertise — about as much as repairing a TV, suggested Jepsen, depending on what's wrong.

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Time to think

The home foreclosure/mortgage crisis is having impacts for beyond the blur of headlines and numbers. Admidst the tragedy and sorrow of people losing their homes, there must be a pony. We just have to be alert enough to find it.

Can't Pay Your Mortgage? Trash Your House and Leave.

On the lookout for disturbing trends? Here's one for your pile: According to a recent article in Fortune, there has been a noticeable increase in not just fraud but arson that has kept pace with the housing depression. Professionals in the insurance and lending industry are bracing themselves for all manner of similar situations, as homeowners either trash, or simply leave their trash lying around their houses, often taking off without even claiming their furniture. This is already a dirty problem in the housing business, with owners, lenders and banks having to figure out a way to stick each other with the check when tenants destroy their property on their way out the door. Woe is the person left behind to clean up the chaos.

"We just estimated a trashout yesterday where we're going to have to drain the pool," one Fontana, CA resident posted on AgentsOnline.Net, a resource and idea site for realtors, "and the stench from it when you enter the backyard is overwhelming. Then, of course there are mosquitoes all over the top and it's been sitting so long without chemicals that it's green on top and murky black on the bottom. We've already had to refuse one pool because of its really creepy condition and I'm not so sure about this one either. [I] just hope we don't find the previous homeowner at the bottom when we drain it."

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My initial thought was: What use could be made of those empty pools? Storage for rainfall capture? Cistern?

What about the homes themselves? Could they be bought and converted to low-income housing? That sure would enourage diversity and the rehabilitation would supply honest work. I think back to the fact there is hardly a community in the country that did not benefit and still is enjoying the work of a WPA-era project. Schools, roads, bridges, post offices, parks and rest areas... the list goes on and on. Why not now? Why can't we do something to improve everyone's life?

What is needed and what would work in your community?