Plus – Page 27 – Politics Plus

The MLK Memorial

Posted by TomCat at 1:43 am Personal, Plus

Apr 142010

If you’ve read the ‘About Me’ page here, you know that, during the sixties, I was an activist for Civil Rights and against the Vietnam War, was heavily involved in MLK’s Vietnam Summer, was present at two of his greatest speeches, and actually met Dr. King on several occasions.

A memorial for this great American is under construction in Washington, DC. Yesterday I received an email from Lowell Dempsey. It was actually a second email. I did not receive the first due to my computer crash last week, or if I did, I lost it in the shuffle of rebuilding my computer. I consider it too important not to share it in its entirety,

Hi again Tom

I sent you an email last week and I didn’t hear back so I wanted to try you again. I’m reaching out to ask if you would help spread the word by posting about the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial on Politics Plus. This month of April marks the 42nd anniversary of the death of Dr. King and we are commemorating his life and work by creating a memorial in our nation’s capital. The Washington, DC, Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial will honor his life and contributions to the world through non violent social change.

I’ve put together this micro-site to help get the message out – there are videos, photos, banners, and even a web toolbar that, when used, donates money to the creation of the memorial:

http://mlkmemorialnews.org

After many years of fund raising, the memorial is only $14 million away from its $120 million goal. If you are able to post or tweet about this please let me know so I can share it with the team. If you have any questions please pop me an email. And if you are able to help, thank you so much.

Lowell

—

Lowell Dempsey,

BuildTheDream.org

Twitter @mlkmemorial

Facebook.com/MLKNationalMemorial

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity"

–Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

You probably also know that I do not ask for money, not for me or for anyone else, because I want Politics Plus to be about truth, not finances. However, I will say that, in spite of poverty, I made a small donation. I would encourage to at least spread this around.

Thank you.

US Researchers Replicate Photosynthesis

Posted by TomCat at 1:41 am Plus

Apr 142010

This could be fantastic news!

Scientists have made a fundamental breakthrough in their attempts to replicate photosynthesis – the ability of plants to harvest the power of sunlight – in the hope of making unlimited amounts of "green" energy from water and sunlight alone.

The researchers have assembled genetically modified viruses into wire-like structures that are able to use the energy of the sun to split water molecules into their constitute parts of oxygen and hydrogen, which can then be used as a source of chemical energy.

If the process can be scaled up and made more efficient, it promises to produce unlimited quantities of hydrogen fuel, a clean source of energy that can be used to generate electricity as well as acting as a portable, carbon-free fuel for cars and other vehicles.

Replicating photosynthesis – in which plants convert sunlight into a store of chemical energy – has been a dream of the alternative energy business for decades. The drive was given an extra boost yesterday with warnings by the US military that there could be serious global oil shortages by 2015.

Splitting water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen is seen as a critical first step in this process of artificial photosynthesis. Although it is possible to split the molecules using solar electricity, the process is not very efficient. In the latest study, scientists were able to split water directly with sunlight, without using solar panels…

Inserted from <Common Dreams>

It will likely be a few years before this becomes commercially viable. My biggest fear is that, since greedy US corporations often choose against developing products that do not turn an immediate profit, the process will be sold overseas.

Thank You Tina Fey!

Posted by TomCat at 2:55 am Plus, Politics

Apr 132010

After a very intense lead story yesterday (Please read, if you have not.), here’s something light. Wave at cousin FatCat. 😉

Doesn’t Tina do a wonderful job channeling Mooseolini, The tweeting tundra twit?

Bill Maher: New Rules 3/26/2010

Posted by TomCat at 2:04 am Plus

Mar 272010

Often politically incorrect, Bill Maher is almost always funny.

Olbermann: I’m Sad to Announce…

Posted by TomCat at 4:11 am Plus

Mar 142010

It pains me to share so great a loss to one who has given us so much.

Theodore Olbermann, father of MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann, died this afternoon after suffering complications from a surgery last year. Keith posted a tribute to his father at his Baseball Nerd blog a short time ago.

"He was my inspiration, and will always remain so," he wrote. "His bravery these last six months cannot be measured. He is as much my hero now, as he was when I was five years old."

In the past few months, Olbermann did not anchor a number of "Countdown" episodes so he could spend time with his dad. He had also discussed his father’s hospitalization several times on the program.

Condolences and notes can be sent to countdown@msnbc.com

Inserted from <Media Bistro>

I hope you will join me in letting Keith know that he and his are in our thoughts and prayers.

Newer Entries

PHP is a programming language used to build websites. We have it at all through our hosting partner, BlueHost. In order to update it, we have to go through Bluehost. During his life, TomCat was the only one who had access to our account there. I (JD) am now the only one. I have been to BlueHost and investigated updating our PHP to 8.3 or even to 8.1. I found instructions to do so - in fact, I found two conflicting sets of instructions. I went through one set of the steps and got the message that Our site could not handle 8.3, but that it had successfully updated to 8.1. I then went back here to see what it looked like. But I couldn't get in - either as an administrator or as a reader. It was just gone. I had to reach BlueHost by phone. It was determined that Politics Plus is in fact not compatible with any version of PHP newer than the one we have. BlueHost therefore uninstalled it for me, and the site came back to normal. Of course, like everyone else, I care about security. But I also am aware that TomCat elected to use different providers for several of the services that BlueHost provides, for instance backups. We are backed up daily - but not by BlueHost. However, out PHP is through Bluehost. I feel that if they are not worried about the older version, I am not going to worry about it. I believe that our security here is all or mostly through WordFence, whom I trust.