Economic Turmoil and Recovery in Latvia

See Andrew Higgins, Used to Hardship, Latvia Accepts Austerity, and Its Pain Eases NYTimes (Jan. 1, 2013)

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NASA-Cassini Backlit Photo of Saturn

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Winter in Switzerland

A Wall Street Journal Photo of the Year

Those Evil Roman Catholics!

Justin Pope, Private College Presidents Pay Was up Slightly (Dec. 10, 2012):

Compensation for private college presidents has continued to drift upward, while the number crossing the $1 million barrier — a signal of prestige, and a magnet for criticism — held steady at 36, according to a new survey.

The latest annual compilation by The Chronicle of Higher Education covers data from 2010, due to lag time in the release of federal tax information. That year, median compensation for the 494 presidents in the survey — leaders of institutions with budgets of at least $50 million — was $396,649, or 2.8 percent higher than in last year's survey. But median base salary fell slightly, by less than 1 percent.

The highest paid was Bob Kerrey, who was president of The New School in New York until December 2010 before returning to Nebraska, where he made an unsuccessful run to return to the U.S Senate. Kerrey's total compensation was valued at just over $3 million. His base salary was just over $600,000, but he received the remainder in the form of a retention bonus, deferred compensation and other benefits.

[snip, snip]

Then there's the other end of the scale — presidents of roughly two dozen Roman Catholic institutions including Villanova University, Boston College, Marquette and a number of smaller schools, whose compensation is zero. All are either clergy or members of religious orders.

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A New and Old Christmas Season

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A Jersey City Thanksgiving

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A New Day Dawns - and the Stock Market Plummets

Dow's 300-Point Slide Takes It Back to August Levels Wall Street Journal, mid-day, November 7, 2012 What will happen tomorrow, I wonder.   &&& The dynamic evidence page

Bird Brains & the Valor of feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic (warm-blooded), egg-laying, vertebrate animals

 Alan Cowell, A Bird Skeleton, a Code, and, Maybe, a Top Secret NYTimes (Nov. 1, 2012):

 

It kept its secret for decades. It perished in the process. It died, experts say, a valiant death, most likely on a hush-hush mission over wartime France, and was then, like so many others, forgotten.

 

But now, decades after the final flight of military carrier pigeon 40TW194, the bird’s secret message has become a matter of state and the grist of headlines. After a concerted campaign by pigeon fanciers, the encrypted message, which had been folded into a scarlet capsule on the pigeon’s leg, has now been sent to Britain’s top-secret GCHQ listening post and decoding department outside Gloucester to the west of London. 

[snip, snip]

 

The tale of 40TW194 speaks to many themes — among them, animal heroism. The Dickin Medal, Britain’s highest decoration for animal valor, has been awarded to 64 feathered, furry or four-legged creatures, including 32 pigeons, since 1943, making birds the bravest of the brave. They include an American pigeon called G.I. Joe, or Pigeon USA43SC6390, which, according to its citation, “brought a message which arrived just in time to save the lives of at least 100 Allied soldiers from being bombed by their own planes.”

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2012.10.17.F

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2012.10.17.E

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2012.10.17.D

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2012.10.17.C

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2012.10.17.B

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2012.10.17.A

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Whirlpool Galaxy

Source: The Telegraph:

Australian based photographer Martin Pugh has claimed the top prize in the Royal Observatory’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition for the second time, after originally winning the accolade back in 2009. As well as securing the £1,500 top prize, his image takes pride of place in the exhibition of winning photographs opening at the Royal Observatory Greenwich on 20 September.

Pugh impressed the judges in this year’s competition with the depth and clarity of his winning shot depicting the famous Whirlpool Galaxy (M51). The image combines incredible detail in the galaxy’s spiral arms with the faint tails of light that show M51’s small companion galaxy being gradually torn apart by the gravity of its giant neighbour; a closer look also reveals more distant galaxies beyond.

Deep Space category winner, and overall winner: M51 - The Whirlpool Galaxy by Martin Pugh (Australia)

Picture: Martin Pugh
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Bibi

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Greek and Spanish Tragedies?

It seems more apparent than ever -- see A Greek Tragedy --  that Greece and Spain should have withdrawn from the Euro Zone. There is something bizarrely wrong with an economic and political theory that holds it is worth throwing countries into depression instead of making adjustments to the Euro.

Symbols are sometimes pernicious things.

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Keeping Things in an Ever-Deeper Perspective

The Hubble eXtreme Deep Field:

NASA Photo

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Vote for Obama - It's...

the religious and non-racist thing to do.
So sez Rev. Calvin O. Butts III. See 

This presidential election is all about race, noted preacher says

Did he really say that?
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Clint Eastwood's Show

Am I the only person on earth who found Clint Eastwood's "rambling" talk clever, witty, and cutting? Of course, it's true Eastwood didn't say anything of substance. But neither did anyone else. Clint Eastwood's talk was "memorable" and it will be remembered -- and that, presumably, is why gave the performance he did.

I don't think Eastwood rambled. I think his talk was carefully designed (by Eastwood).

It would probably be better if most of these Presidential nominating conventions were not held at all. They are almost pure show.

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