@Earth_Pics

Muh.....

Pirate-themed CT scanner helps New York City kids find calm waters before tests
The New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital recently purchased a CT scanner that makes medical tests seem less like a 'horrible, scary chore' and more like an adventure on the high seas.

The New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital has turned its CT scan room into a pirate-themed island.
Children enter the room by walking a plank and settling into a boat-shaped table. Radiologists then weigh anchor and slide the table right into the scanner, while swashbuckling pirates look on from the walls.

It’s still a fantasy and it doesn’t detract from the fact that many of the children who need these tests are coming to the hospital in pain. Some are coming to track the growth of cancers. Others have perhaps fallen down a flight of stairs and are suffering from ankle or skull fractures. Still others were born with conditions that need to be closely monitored, like congenital heart defects.
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“It allows children to imagine all sorts of things,” Ruzal-Shapiro said. “So it doesn’t seem like a horrible, scary chore.”
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Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/pirate-themed-ct-scanner-helps-new-york-city-kids-find-calm-waters-tests-article-1.1435876#ixzz2dWTaP61k

Cool!
Anything to change up the dreariness of a hospital has to help.

@Historical_Pics

Well, you wouldn't care if you did cough.

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron's plans to join a potential military strike on Syria were thwarted on Thursday night when Britain's parliament narrowly voted against a government motion to authorize such action in principle.

In a humiliating defeat for the British leader likely to damage Cameron's hopes of being re-elected in 2015 and set back traditionally strong U.S.-UK relations, parliament defied Cameron by 285 to 272 votes.

Commentators said it was the first time a British prime minister had lost a vote on war since 1782, when parliament effectively conceded American independence by voting against further fighting to crush the colony's rebellion.
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http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE97R1BD20130830?irpc=932

Wow!
Reaping what you sow by following bad intel and other idiots into war.

A woman in a supermarket is following a grandfather and his badly behaved 3 year-old grandson.

It's obvious to her that he has his hands full with the child screaming for candy, cookies, you name it. Meanwhile, Grandpa is working his way around, saying in a controlled voice, "Easy William, we won't be long. . . easy, boy."

Another outburst and she hears the grandpa calmly say, "It's okay, William, just a couple more minutes and we'll be out of here. Hang in there, boy"

At the checkout, the little terror is throwing items out of the cart and Grandpa says again in a controlled voice, "William, William,
relax buddy, don't get upset. We'll be home in five minutes, stay cool, William."

Very impressed, the woman goes outside where the grandfather is loading his groceries and the boy into the car. She says to the elderly man, "It's none of my business, but you were amazing in there. I don't know how you did it. That whole time you kept yourh composure, and no matter how loud and disruptive he got, you just calmly kept saying 'things would be okay.' William is very lucky to have you as his grandpa."

"Thanks," said the grandpa, "but I'm William. The little shit's name is Brian."
(From email)

Ha!

The segment lasted 3:32 and at the end I felt a chill running down my spine.

Thus is the talent of Keith Olbermann.

His recollection of his father using Satchel Paige to illustrate the roots of segregation was powerful as anything I heard during the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous speech.

Like him or not, you owe it to yourself to watch.

http://www.shermanreport.com/powerful-olbermann-talks-about-his-dad-satchel-paige-and-kings-speech/#sthash.srfPpbm3.dpuf

KO will never change. Thank gawd!

(Wasn't sure if I posted the first one before)
Cat Litterature


The Cat Is Sat (Henri has a catsitter)


LOL!
Loves me some Henri!

This is an example of a fulgurite. They occur when lightning strikes sand and fuses it into glass. This is only one form it takes.

There is a lot of sand where I live, and I have searched at times with no luck.
...sigh....

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who ushered the U.S. into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003, said the Obama administration has not clearly justified an attack on Syria.
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Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/319269-rumsfeld-says-administration-hasnt-justified-syria-attack#ixzz2dKzOr4Kj

If by some horrible quirk of fate, every single child in Syria had been killed by 'conventional' means in the last month, the US and everyone hollering would not be saying a damn thing about using force.

Chemical warfare is horrific. It produces mass casualties that die in an unimaginable fashion. The substance is indiscriminate.

War is hell on everybody involved directly. Trying to enforce 'rules' for war is an ironic concept to say the least.

The suffering produced varies in degree and method, but it is as real for one as for another. Pain is pain.

Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin said,"You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake." She was right. You can prevail over an enemy. However, when looking at the death and destruction, it is sobering to consider what is lost.

Spare me the hand-wringing about the dead Syrian children now. They have been dying in droves for a long time.

We selectively choose when to be outraged and about what.

The military action will make THE WEST feel better and self-righteous. What it will actually do to Syria is a known unknown. There is no easy and painless solution contrary to all popular belief.

"Crimes against humanity" is a phrase not reserved to use just about 'the bad guys'.

AND precision missile strikes aren't.