The Castlehom Institute

China 18%, Japan 192%

U.S. Water Polo Team

beijing‑olympics‑chinese‑swimsuits3.jpg

                                        Chinese swimsuit pictures Beijing Olympics

Beijing Olympics 2008 news, information and results

Hot Chinese Olympic Swimsuits for Beijing Olympics

So Sad so glad

Early in Gary Shteyngart’s “Absurdistan” the narrator says he is “almost disabused” of the belief that he can fly. The word “almost” is beautifully exact. Shteyngart’s characters never give in to reality all at once.

digital decay smoking drinking and fat

http://www.myspace.com/winstonchurchill1

The Wall is a little embarrassing for the staff at the charitable trust, because the photograph features on a giant poster hanging above the museum’s main door are political correct digit decay bull-waddle untruth.

So just who did pinch the great man’s Havana Cigar?

It wasn’t the anti-smoking lobby, which has had no known contact with the museum; it certainly wasn’t Churchill’s family - his grandson Nicholas Soames said ‘it doesn’t matter one way or the other’ and it wasn’t the museum itself (policy) - in fact they have  wartime posters advertising cigarettes on the walls.

But intriguingly the museum, which gives all profits to charity, declined to name who put together the display and, crucially, who enlarged the image for the poster.

Museum manager John Welsh was astonished to be told the image was missing one vital ingredient.

‘The cigar is part of what makes Churchill an iconic figure and of course it was very much part of his image as war leader - it went hand in hand with his victory salute and the uniforms he wore.

‘What’s politically correct for 2010 was not politically correct for 1940.’

Churchill is not the first figure to fall foul of such meddling.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1286620/Churchill-non-smoker-How-todays-PC-censors-airbrushed-cigar.html#ixzz0xHay3NAF

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Winston drank whiskey before breakfast, smoked, he was fat, yet he lived till 90 doing all the things that kill most of the rest of us!  Stress.  He worked longer and harder than most and suffered real defeats and disgraces. This can’t be denied any more than the cigar can be taken out of the picture – unless of course we only google and none of us notice what some well-intended computer clerk can do without check or balance.  I doubt they’ll ever know who did it and she’s not admitting a thing and I’m not going there.  In IBM we use to call them “duck bites” and bravado notwithstanding i’ve seen friends killed by a thousand bites.

Sailing Survivor

19 August, 2010: Wild Eyes is drifting eastwards at approximately 24 nautical miles per day towards the Australian coast.

http://soloround.blogspot.com/

Abby Sutherland

Born: 10.19.1993
Hometown: Thousand Oaks, California
Started Sailing: 6 months
Family: Second of 7 kids
Interests: Sailing, adventure, art, animals
Quote: "I had begun to think that dreams are meant to be no more than dreams and that in reality dreams don’t come true. Then my brother (Zac) left on his trip. It was amazing to see all the support that he got from around the world and to see how everyone worked together to help make his dream reality. Watching him do this really made me believe that I could too."   http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/37621453

A lifelong sailor, Abby Sunderland had begun her journey trying to be the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop around the world — a record briefly held last year by her brother

Team Abby has chosen the Open 40 sailboat as the vessel of choice for Abby’s solo, non-stop circumnavigation. The Open 40 was specifically designed for single-handed sailing in the Southern Ocean. It has the benefit of both speed and safety necessary to navigate the conditions Abby will experience in the Southern Ocean.

VESSEL PARTICULARS:

Name: WILD EYES

Designer: Jutson Yacht design, Australia

Builder: A.S.A. Yachts PTY, Australia

Model: Open 40, solo

Built: 2001

LOA: 40′ / 12.19m

Beam: 11.21′ / 3.41m

Displacement: 7407 lbs. / 3360 Kg.

Ballast: 2094 lbs / 950 Kg.

Tonnage: 16 Gross, 15 Net

Engines: Yanmar - 18hp

HULL, DECK and CABIN
E Glass with Kevlar reinforcement built to IMOCA standards
5 Watertight Compartments with Stern Escape Hatch and Crash Bulkead
Port and Starboard 750 liter Water Ballast Tanks
Keel Trim Tab for Upwind Optimization
Fixed Keel Strut with T Bulb
Galley to Starboard with Propane Stove with Burner, Stainless Steel Sink, Ice Box

MAST and RIGGING
Carbon Spar, Triple Spreader, Stainless Rod Rigging, Jack Mast Stepping System
Anderson Winches
Fredericksen Turning and Fairlead Blocks
Spinlock Clutchs
ProFurl Roller Furling System for Genoas and Staysails
Lazy Jacks

ELECTRONICS
Full Centerline Amidship Navigation Suites with Full Compliment of Electronics for Trans Oceanic Sailing
12 Volt DC and 110 Volt AC Electrical Systems
Battery Parallel Switch
3 Batteries
Inverter
Solar Panels
Two Wind Generators
Two Coursemaster CM850i Hydraulic Autopilots with remote
Deck Mounted and Below Deck Repeaters and Control Heads (includes remote)
Built in Computer Monitor and CPU in Navigation Suite
Raytheon Radar and Chart Plotter
Thrane & Thrane Sailor 250
Permanent SAT Phone Antenna
2 Below Deck Rudder Mounted Hydraulic Auto Pilots (CourseMaster)
Control Heads (with windvane mode)
Fully Integrated with GPS
ICOM M710 SSB Radion and Antenna
Horizon Intrepid VHF and Handheld VHF
Energy Monitor and Controller
BilgAlarm, BA4R-4W, Four Sensor Bilge Alarm System

SAILS
2010 UK Halsey Spectra/Carbon Tape Drive with double-sided taffeta Main
2010 UK Halsey Spectra/Carbon Tape Drive with double-sided taffeta Genoa
Code 0
Storm Jib
2010 UK Halsey Spectra/Carbon Tape Drive with double-sided taffeta Stay Sail
All with Individual Custom Socks

MISCELLANEOUS
Custom Carbon Emergency Rudder and Tiller Cassette
Custom Cradle
Pressure Fresh Water
Hand Held Shower
Diesel Heater
Two Anchors and rode / chain
2 Fresh Water Tanks

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Lizard Kings Monitor Lizards

They look like dragons, inspiring stories of man-eating, fire-spitting monsters with long claws and razor-sharp teeth. But these creatures are actually monitor lizards, members of an ancient family that includes massive Komodos-the largest lizards to walk the planet. With their acute intelligence, these lizards are a very different kind of reptile, blurring the line between reptiles and mammals. NOVA follows expert lizard hunter Dr. Eric Pianka as he tracks elusive monitors through Australia’s heartland, and cutting-edge lizard cam technology provides a lizard’s-eye view for an unparalleled close encounter with these amazing living dragons.

OF COURSE YOU CAN HOME SCHOOL YOUR CHILDREN.

SDL

My name is Shannon Larratt (bio), and you probably know me best through my work in body modification, Internet Casinos, computer-fax integration, and voice telephony, each a field in which I was prominently involved in pioneering central concepts and bringing them into the mainstream. However, I fell into each of these fields “by accident”, and both my academic and personal interests center around art and painting.

Hamlet’s BlackBerry

http://www.williampowers.com/

A crisp, passionately argued answer to the question that everyone who’s grown dependent on digital devices is asking:

“Where’s the rest of my life?”

At a time when we’re all trying to make sense of our relentlessly connected lives, this revelatory book presents a bold new approach to the digital age. Our computers and mobile devices do wonderful things for us. But they also impose an enormous burden, making it harder for us to focus, do our best work, build strong relationships, and find the depth and fulfillment we crave.

Using his own life as laboratory and object lesson, and drawing on such great thinkers as Plato, Shakespeare and Thoreau, Powers shows that digital connectedness serves us best when it’s balanced by its opposite, disconnectedness.

LIVIN’ LA LIBRA LOCO

http://www.inthehook.com/profiles/devon_larratt.html

She’s into superstition
black cats and voodoo dolls

She’ll make you take your clothes off
and go dancing in the rain
she’ll make you live the crazy life
or she’ll take away your pain
like a bullet to your brain

she’s living la Vida loca
she’ll push and pull you down
she’s living la Vida loca

woke up in New York City
in a funky cheap motel
she took my heart and she took my money
she must of slipped me a sleeping pill
she never drinks the water
makes you order French Champaign
and once you had a taste of her
you’ll never be the same
she’ll make you go insane
upside inside out
she’s living la Vida loca

She’ll make you take your clothes off
and go dancing in the rain
she’ll make you live the crazy life
or she’ll take away your pain
like a bullet to your brain
upside inside out
she’s living la Vida loca
she’ll push and pull you down
she’s living la Vida loca
her lips are devil red
and her skins the color mocha
she will wear you out
she’s living la Vida loca
living la Vida loca
living la vida loca

Missing Old People

TOKYO — Japan has long boasted of having many of the world’s oldest people — testament, many here say, to a society with a superior diet and a commitment to its elderly that is unrivaled in the West.

That was before the police found the body of a man thought to be one of Japan’s oldest, at 111 years, mummified in his bed, dead for more than three decades. His daughter, now 81, hid his death to continue collecting his monthly pension payments, the police said.