Happy Friday

Credit: European Southern Observatory

NGC 1232, a glorious grand spiral galaxy in the southern constellation Eridanus is 60 million light years from Planet Earth. 
Wallpaper 1024x768

Why We Should Raise The Minimum Wage

Sign the Petition to Raise the minimum wage to 9 dollars

The Party Of NO

Republicans= no taxes, no spending, no jobs, no education, no healthcare, no infrastructure, no regulations, no immigration, no contraception, no climate change and no common sense. 

Happy Friday

Credit: ESO

This image of IC2944 or the Running Chicken Nebula was released by the European Southern Observatory to celebrate 15 years of operation by the VLT (Very Large Telescope).  The dark blobs are dense regions of gas and dust called Thackeray's Globules after the South African Astronomer who first observed them.  The Running Chicken Nebula is 2 kiloparsecs or 6,500 light years from planet Earth. 

Related articles

• ESO's "Very Large Telescope" Celebrates 15 Years in Business With Stunning Photograph
• Telescope Snaps Photo of Inky 'Strawberry Cocktail' Nebula for 15th Birthday
• ESO's Very Large Telescope celebrates 15 years of success

Asparagus And Beef Stir Fry With Black Bean Garlic Sauce

Recipe here

Close Guantanamo

Sign the Petition (Avaaz) to Obama to end this national disgrace

• Detainees in Guantanamo now: 166
• Detainees facing active charges: 6
• Detainees cleared for immediate release, but stuck in the camp: 86
• Guantanamo inmates on hunger strike: 103
• Hunger strikers strapped down and force fed: 30
• Prisoners who have died in custody: 9
• Children the US has held at Guantanamo: 21
• Detainees tried in civilian court: 1
• "Unreleasable" detainees who can't be tried for lack of evidence or torture: 50
• Prisoners released by the Bush administration: 500+
• Prisoners released by the Obama administration: 72
• Current annual cost to US taxpayers: $150 million
• Days since Obama first pledged to close Gitmo: 1579
• Days since first prisoners arrived at Guantanamo: 11 years, 4 months, 11 days

Related articles

• Guantanamo hunger strike enters 100th day
• 'Worse than death row': Gitmo hunger strike reaches Day 100 amidst mounting intl pressure

The Daily Bread

Recipe here

The Daily Bread

Recipe here

Sugar Free Whiskey Sour Mix

 Sugar Free Whiskey Sour Mix

1 cup fresh lemon and or lime juice

1 cup water

2/3 cup splenda

2013 Union Of Concerned Scientists Editorial Cartoon Contest

Credit: UCS full size here

The 2013 UCS Editorial Cartoon Contest has selected 12 finalists, voting continues until June 10.

View all 12 cartoons here

2.13 An Hour?

  Twenty two years ago 2.13 plus tips would be tough to survive on, today its virtually impossible.  Seven dollars an hour is below the poverty level.  Time to raise the minimum raise, please sign the petition.

Petition Statement

Raising the minimum wage for the benefit of 29 million low-wage workers would only increase food costs at most by 10 cents a day for consumers.

As a consumer, I am willing to pay an extra dime a day for my food so that close to 8 million food system workers and 21 million additional low-wage workers can receive a much deserved raise to help them meet their basic needs.

I ask that you support the Miller-Harkin Fair Minimum Wage Act which would raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10/hour over the next 3 years and the tipped minimum wage from $2.13 to 70% of the regular minimum wage.

 

Sign the Petition

Related articles

• Minimum wage increase is a necessity
• Survey: Small businesses back minimum wage rise
• Many Servers Still Only Make $2.13 An Hour

Happy Friday

This stunning Hubble image captures a portion of the Carina Nebula 7500 light years from planet Earth.

Wallpapers here

National Geographic Photo Contest

Credit: Kedson Silveira

National Geographic Traveler is sponsoring another photo competition in 4 categories.  The photograph above is from the Anhumas Abyss a cave in Brazil.  Many more beautiful photos and wallpapers can be found here. 

"Corporate FM" Seattle Showing

Credit: Here

 ...the killing of local commercial radio

DJs have a gift of listening to the best of their communities and then presenting that back to them. When live local voices are replaced with prerecorded and satellite programs, it ends an age-old symbiotic relationship between radio and the community. Why did radio DJs lose their power to pick music? See Corporate FM, the film that exposes conglomerate radio and the role of Private Equity in media consolidation. By investigating how the financial system gutted commercial radio instead of growing it, documentary film-makers Kevin McKinney & Jill McKeever show how independent radio is being monopolized by a few corporate owners and the effects on jobs and our communities.

For the trailer and more information, go www.fmfilm.com/

 Friday, MAY 17, 2013, 7:00 to 9:30 PM

Keystone Congregational United Church of Christ
5019 Keystone Place N., Seattle

(0.4 miles west of the I-5 NE 50th St. Exit - Metro Bus Routes 16, 26 & 44)
(Admission to all films is FREE of charge and open to the public, ...donations are kindly accepted)

Bank On Students

Lets give our students the same interest rate we offer big banks.

BANK ON STUDENTS LOAN FAIRNESS ACT Fact Sheet

Petition to U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate: Give students the same interest rates on loans as the big banks (MoveOn.Org)

 Wall Street banks – the ones that wrecked our economy – should not be getting a better interest rate on their government loans than young people trying to go to college.

Minnesota Passes Marriage Equality

Credit: Human Rights Campaign

We'll take all the good news we can before the Supreme Court rules on Prop. 8 and DOMA this year.

Stir Fry

Add caption

Chicken stir fry with bean sprouts, baby Bok Choy, tomatoes, onions, Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli), Napa cabbage.

Happy Friday

Credit: ESO/Sergey Stepanenko

This nebula is located 400 light years away in the constellation Corona Australis.

Full size image

This Is Water

Excerpts from David Foster Wallace's Commencement Speech at Kenyon College, Ohio in a beautiful video by the Glossary.com.

David Foster Wallace's full speech

26,000 Rapes And Sexual Assaults

 

26,000  estimated rapes in the U.S. military last year and less than 300 convictions.  Something is terribly wrong here.  Clearly, the military has a cultural problem and their efforts to remedy these shameful statistics are worst than inadequate.  Forty years ago a friend home on leave from the military explained to me that all the women at her base traveled in pairs or groups for fear of rape.  That was four wars ago, drastic change is needed.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Krusinski, 41, was arrested this weekend for sexual assault.  Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Krusinski was the head of the Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.  Did anyone in the Air Force interview the lieutenant colonel before giving him the post?  Is this the best the

 Air Force has to offer for victims of sexual assault?

Pentagon Report on Sexual Assault in the Military in 2012

Detailed summary of H.R. 1593, The STOP Act

HR1593 The STOP ACT (Congress.Gov)

The Daily Bread

Recipe here

Science Is Not A Crime

Petition To State Attorney Jerry Hill: Drop charges against Kiera Wilmot

 Change.Org:

Kiera Wilmot has been described as an exemplary student and a wonderful young woman. Why is it then that an experiment gone wrong is being dealt with by the police and school as a felony offense? According to the Miami Times:

"7 a.m. on Monday, the 16 year-old mixed some common household chemicals in a small 8 oz water bottle on the grounds of Bartow High School in Bartow, Florida. The reaction caused a small explosion that caused the top to pop up and produced some smoke. No one was hurt and no damage was caused."
The principal has said that that he doesn't believe she had any malicious intentions. Yet she now faces two felony charges as an adult. These include making, possessing or discharging a destructive device and with possessing or discharging weapons on school grounds! 
I've learned that the charges have not yet been filed and this means that Florida State Attorney Jerry Hill and Assistant State Attorney Tammy Glotfelty have an opportunity to the right thing, use common sense, and drop these charges against Kiera. 

Please sign this petition to challenge any decision to so drastically charge this young woman for something that was a simple mistake. Her life should not be turned upside down, her future crushed, because someone wants to make a statement. There was no criminal activity here - she does not deserve to be punished like this. Help Kiera find real justice!

I also recommend checking out this article about the situation http://feministing.com/2013/05/01/the-effects-of-unchecked-criminalization-teen-charged-with-felony-for-science-experiment/

 Petition To State Attorney Jerry Hill: Drop charges against Kiera Wilmot

Related articles

• Kiera Wilmot´s Story: Black Girls & The School-to-Prison-Pipeline
• The Case Around Fla, Teen Kiera Wilmot is Part of a Bigger, More Disturbing Pattern
• Florida Teen Expelled From School
• Teen girl arrested, charged with felony for 'science project gone bad'

The Daily Bread

Recipe here

The Daily Bread

Recipe here

Happy Friday

Credit: ESO/Igor Chekalin, 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory

Messier 78, a beautiful reflection nebula in the constellation Orion lies 1400 light years from Earth. 

ESO Messier 78 page full size and more wallpapers
1024x768 desktop wallpaper

The Daily Bread

Recipe here