Thursday, November 13, 2008

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November 13, 2008 | Afternoon Edition
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Bailout Plan Under The Microscope
House And Senate Committees Delve Into U.S. Financial Crisis

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Outrage Over Banker Bonuses (2:51)

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3. General Warns Obama On Missile Defense
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Breaking News Thu., November 13, 2008

Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:

'Pregnant Man' Thomas Beatie Tells ABC's Barbara Walters He Is Expecting Second Child [11:07 a.m. ET]

For more, go to abcnews.go.com?CMP=EMC-1396

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Usa/2008: American Racists React to Barack Obama Victory

Racists React to Obama Victory

By David Knowles
Nov 13th 2008 9:40AM

Filed Under:eRepublicans, Barack Obama, Featured Stories, Crime, Race

It should come as absolutely no surprise that, despite the historic election of the first African American president of the United States, the scourge of racism has not been magically wiped away from every nook and cranny of the country. Just dip your toes into the comment section of this, or any other blog that deals with politics and you'll encounter plenty of it. Despite that regrettable fact, for those who lived through or have studied the milestones marking the advancement of blacks throughout our nation's history, the seeming lack of racially-motivated clashes has been a noteworthy marker of how far we have come.

That said, just as many of us can feel proud of a country so enlightened that its majority can elect a minority to the highest office of the land, we must not shy away from the uncomfortable fact that a significant number of Americans dislike Obama based, first and foremost, on the color of his skin. By the way, that's not the same as claiming that if you criticize Obama you are, by definition, a racist. I'm talking about that proud band of citizenry who'll tell you openly of their disdain and fear of darker skin tones.

Now that the rush of excitement is starting to wane, a spate of media stories is shedding light on those people who wish history had not been made, would never be made, when it comes to black equality. So then, via Editor & Publisher, here's a rogues round-up. An up-to-the-minute cataloging of that which we all know is out there, alive and well.

1. Yesterday, Tommy Christopher detailed the story of a bus load of Idaho elementary school tots chanting "Assassinate Obama! Assassinate Obama!"

2. In a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a high school teacher's aide berated a bi-racial 16-year-old Obama supporter, with the following predictions:

"...[the aide] said that Obama was going to be shot and killed," Mara Gilligan told KDKA News. " And that our flag is going to be the KFC [Kentucky Fried Chicken] flag and that the new national anthem will be 'Moving On Up'--and that all my daughter's beliefs were wrong and her children's lives were going to be ruined because Obama was elected."

3. The Associated Press reports several cars in Long Island, New York, vandalized with anti-Obama messages, including promises to kill the president-elect.

4. At North Carolina State University, four students face expulsion for spay painting the phrases, "Let's shoot that (N-word) in the head" and "Hang Obama by a noose."

5. In Texas, Baylor University students awoke the morning after Obama's victory to find a noose hanging from a tree in front of Morrison Hall.

6. In Maine, several black figures were found hanging from nooses on Mount Desert Island the day after Obama won.

7. California vandals went on a spray painting binge in Torrance, targeting cars with Obama bumper stickers. On one house the words "Go Back to Africa" were inscribed.

8. Of course, we all know of the Tennessee skinhead plot to kill random African Americans, and, with a wing and a prayer, Obama himself.

9. In Pennsylvania's Apolacon Township, situated in an area known for KKK activity, an interracial couple looked out their front window to find the remnants of a burned cross.

10. Two men in the ironically named Friendsville, Pennsylvania were arrested for "racial intimidation and trespassing."

These are but ten incidents. Thankfully, none resulted in physical violence. If you have your own incidents to report, we'd like to hear about them in the comment section.

Recent Comments

(Page 1 of 10)

1115a 11/13 Update: Countdown on track; weather improves to 70 percent 'go'

=================================

CBS NEWS STS-126 STATUS REPORT: 08
Posted: 11:15 AM, 11/13/08

By William Harwood
CBS News Space Analyst

Changes and additions:

   SR-06 (11/11/08): Shuttle countdown on tap; weather 60 percent 'go' for Friday launch
   SR-07 (11/12/08): Countdown underway; forecast still 60 percent 'go' for Friday launch
   SR-08 (11/13/08): Countdown on track; weather improves to 70 percent 'go' for Friday launch

=================================

11:15 AM, 11/13/08, Update: Countdown on track; weather improves to 70 percent 'go'

The shuttle Endeavour's countdown is ticking smoothly toward launch Friday night on a four-spacewalk space station assembly mission. There are no technical problems of any significance at pad 39A and forecasters are predicting slightly better weather, calling for a 70 percent chance of acceptable conditions.

"All of our systems are in good shape, the countdown work is on schedule, I have no issues to report," NASA Test Director Charlene Blackwell-Thompson told reporters today. "Endeavour is ready to go. And we're really excited to share our version of a sunrise with you tomorrow night."

Liftoff is targeted for 7:55:34 p.m., roughly the moment Earth's rotation carries the launch pad into the plane of the international space station's orbit.

Kathy Winters, the shuttle weather officer at the Kennedy Space Center, said a frontal system approaching Florida from the west is not moving quite as fast as initially expected. It is now expected to move through the area late Saturday, bringing heavy clouds and rain. Isolated showers and cumulus clouds are expected Friday, as the front approaches.

"That's our primary concern for launch, isolated showers and cumulus clouds in the area," Winters said. "The front will move through the area on Saturday, late afternoon to the evening time period. So with that, we're in a pre-frontal condition before launch, which makes us have a warm, moist atmosphere and that causes us concern for these showers and cumulus clouds."

Based on the latest computer models, "we're a little bit more optimistic for Friday evening, mainly because we're more confident in the frontal passage. Still, our primary concerns are the showers within 20 nautical miles and also cumulus clouds within 10 nautical miles of the launch pad. So we have a 30 percent chance of KSC weather prohibiting the launch."

The forecast worsens to 70 percent no-go Saturday and improves to 80 percent favorable for Sunday.

=================================

Quick-Launch Web Links:

CBS News STS-126 Status Reports:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html

CBS News STS-126 Quick-Look Page:
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html

NASA ISS Expeditions Page:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/index.html

NASA Shuttle Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/index.html
NASA Station Web: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/index.html
Spaceflight Now: http://spaceflightnow.com/index.html
GoogleSatTrack: http://www.lizard-tail.com/isana/tracking/

=================================




Hack WordPress

Hack WordPress

eGamer: A Premium WordPress Theme for Gamers

Posted: 13 Nov 2008 02:00 AM CST

As the premium themes market continues to grow and expand, it is interesting to see theme designers move to fill niches that were not previously filled.

The latest example of this is the eGamer theme by my friend Nick Roach over at Elegant Themes.  Whether you play video games or MMORPG’s (such as World of Warcraft, EverQuest 2, etc.), the eGamer theme was created with gamers in mind, and the feature set matches what video game bloggers would most likely be looking for.

Features included with the eGamer theme include:

  • Custom Author Review System.
  • Video Embedding (from video sites such as YouTube).
  • Thumbnail Resizing.
  • Ability to Display Recent Reviews, Banner Ads, Popular Posts, and Recent Videos section.
  • Choice of Magazine or Blog-style Layout.
  • Option for post-page thumbnails

You can read more about the features included with eGamer here.

Here is how the eGamer WordPress theme looks by default:

Here is what the eGamer post page looks like:

In order to get a true appreciation of eGamer’s appearance and feature set, you’ll want to view the full demo here.   I love how the sidebar is on the left and the comment section is really well done.

For a theme of this quality, there has to be a price, right?  Well sort of.   In order to download the eGamer WordPress theme, you simply need to be a member of the Elegant Themes club, which only costs $19.99 for a years membership!

With that $19.99 you also get access to every other theme released by Elegant Themes during that year.  After a year passes, you have the option of renewing your membership to continue to receive future themes.   I’ve been following Nick for quite awhile now and he seems to maintain a pretty nice release schedule, making this investment a no-brainer!

---
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iThemes Releases Ultimate Flexx Premium WordPress Theme

Posted: 12 Nov 2008 09:01 PM CST

Some of our long time readers may remember last April I wrote about a somewhat revolutionary new WordPress theme, which in my opinion was well ahead of its time, known as the Shifter theme.  Though this theme looked a little plain at first, it was completely built around using the WordPress widget feature, allowing for incredible versatility.

Since that time no one else has really attacked the widget angle the way Shifter did…..at least until now.   After over 2 months of production and quite a few beta testers (myself included), I am excited to share with our readers that iThemes has released what is probably their best theme yet, the Flexx Theme.

This theme comes with over 1,000 possible layout combinations!   Other Flexx features include:

  • Rotating Header Images – Easily upload your new header images and set the Flash-like transition effects
  • Contact Form Page Template – The custom image uploader feature allows you to personalize your site with your own logo
  • Plug and Play Graphic Changes – Easily change the look of your site by uploading new background images (setting every different combo with it) and setting the color through a Photoshop-like color picker.
  • Menu Builder – Pick and choose what Pages you want in the menu navigation, including subpages.
  • Search Engine Optimization – As with all our themes, we've built it to get you the best exposure in the search engines, and include a SEO panel to tweak some basic settings.
  • Multiple Color Styles - This first series comes in two pre-built color styles (Bold and Canvas), but it has a rockin' feature that lets you easily upload new background images (setting every different combo with it) and setting the color through a Photoshop-like color picker.
  • Drop down navigation menu

To get an idea of one of the 1,000+ possibilities available, you can check out the Flexx demo.   Here are a couple screen shots:

Flexx Homepage

Flexx Post Page

The best part about the new Flexx theme is the price!  It falls under the iThemes standard pricing model of $79.95 for a single-use license and $249.95 for the developer’s license.  iThemes 2008 theme club members of course get this theme for free.

What do you think of this incredible theme?   Anyone else think that widget-based themes might be the future or the premium WordPress themes market?

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