Tag Archives: tree

Where is the Runaway Train on the New Unstoppable Poster?

So Fox has unveiled the first official poster for Tony Scott’s long-gestating runaway-train thriller Unstoppable , featuring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine as an unlikely duo charged with halting said train — loaded with chemicals, natch — before it jumps the rails, barrels into a bus full of children and/or achieves any number of other cataclysmic scenarios. All of which raises the question: Where’s the train?

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Where is the Runaway Train on the New Unstoppable Poster?

Modern Family Tapes Gay PDA Episode in 3, 2…

Last May, Modern Family creator Steve Levitan promised that his comedy’s gay couple Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) would tackle their PDA phobia head-on in a very special season two episode… that is finally about to be taped. While details are still being kept secret, star Ed O’N eill revealed that producers rejected the scenario he suggested. “My idea was Christmas,” O’Neill joked. “But go right to oral sex. You know, in the easy chair by the tree with Christmas carols. Maybe the camera outside, amber light, snow gently falling, some soft moaning. And we go out on that.” [ E! ]

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Modern Family Tapes Gay PDA Episode in 3, 2…

Amazon Storm Killed Half a Billion Trees

A violent storm ripped through the Amazon forest in 2005 and single-handedly killed half a billion trees, a new study reveals. The study is the first to produce an actual tree body count after an Amazon storm. An estimated 441 million to 663 million trees were destroyed across the whole Amazon basin during the 2005 storm, a much greater number than previously suspected. In some areas of the forest, up to 80 percent of the trees were killed by the storm. A severe drought was previously blamed for the region's tree loss in 2005. “We can't attribute [the increased] mortality to just drought in certain parts of the basin — we have solid evidence that there was a strong storm that killed a lot of trees over a large part of the Amazon,” said forest ecologist and study researcher Jeffrey Chambers of Tulane University in New Orleans, La. From Jan. 16 to Jan. 18, 2005, a squall line — a long line of severe thunderstorms — 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) long and 124 miles (200 km) wide crossed the whole Amazon basin. The storm's strong winds, with speeds of up to 90 mph (145 kph), uprooted or snapped trees in half. When trees die, they release their stored carbon into the atmosphere, which contributes to climate change. In a vicious cycle, these storms could become more frequent in the future due to climate change. To calculate the number of trees killed by the storm, the researchers used satellite images, field studies and computer models. They looked for patches of wind-toppled trees, which allowed them to distinguish from trees killed by the drought. “If a tree dies from a drought, it generally dies standing. It looks very different from trees that die snapped by a storm,” Chambers said. The storm wiped out between 300,000 and 500,000 trees in the area of Manaus, Brazil, alone. The number of trees killed by the 2005 storm was equal to 30 percent of the total human-caused deforestation in that same year for the Manaus region. The researchers used the tree loss in Manaus to estimate the tree loss across the entire Amazon basin. “It's very important that when we collect data in the field we do forensics on tree mortality,” Chambers said. “Under a changing climate, some forecasts say that storms will increase in intensity. If we start seeing increases in tree mortality, we need to be able to say what's killing the trees.” The study, funded by NASA and Tulane University, will be detailed in a future edition of the journal Geophysical Research Letters. added by: JanforGore

Rare 90-Year-Old Tree Flowers for the First Time Ever

Photo via UBC Botanical Gardens One rare tree specimen in Ireland is proving that it’s never too late to try something new. Some 90 years after being planted on an estate outside of Belfast, a Goat Horn Trees, native to China, is flowering its pale, aromatic blossoms for the very first time ever. Sadly though, it’s attempt to find another tree with which to reproduce will likely be in vain as there’s only one more like it in the whole country…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Rare 90-Year-Old Tree Flowers for the First Time Ever

Imagine If a Conervative Had Said It: Child- and Cop-killer Edition

Remember when media liberals were insisting ( falsely, by the way ) that RedState’s Erick Erickson had advocated shooting a census taker? Well imagine that a journalist had approached, say, Dick Armey and the following exchange had ensued. Then try to imagine what the media’s response would be. JOURNO: Obviously you don’t believe in killing census workers. ARMEY: Umm, not in that context, no sir. No, no. JOURNO: Okay, in what context? ARMEY: Just for the sake of this interview, no context. I don’t believe in that. There are too many other government forces out here that are much more powerful that I as a man would focus on. I wouldn’t focus on the census workers, sir, I’d focus on the police. Replace “census workers” with “babies” and “government” with “white,” and you have the exact statement from Malik Zulu Shabazz, leader of the New Black Panther Party, made in an interview with Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher (video below the fold). “So,” writes Tabitha Hale at RedState, “just for the sake of this interview, killing white babies is not okay. But those other times, in the proper context? It’s totally okay. You know, as long as the crackers are out of the way.” Mark Potok, please call your office . Oh the howling that would ensue if any Tea Party leader, let alone the head of a prominent organization like FreedomWorks, made a statement like that. “Killing census workers is not as productive as killing cops,” is what it would, rightly, be boiled down to. Shabazz is saying that he considers violence towards police officers to be a more productive activity in battling white people than killing their children. Phew. What a relief. Where is the media on this? Where is Chris Matthews to devote an entire hour-long special to the dangers of militant black supremacy groups, as he did with the Tea Party? Where is Rachel Maddow to devote an hour of her time to warning viewers that violent rhetoric can incite violent action, as she did in the context of the Oklahoma City bombing, naturally blaming it on conservatives? Where is Joe Klein to remind us of the definition of sedition — “conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of the state, in his words — and to accuse these groups of ” rubbing right up close ” to doing just that? Where are the host of media personalities who painted the Hutaree militia and a vague threat of “right-wing extremism” as the biggest threat to American peace since 9/11? They are all silent, because accusing the New Black Panthers of fomenting violence does not fit the narrative — it does not serve their political ends. And this is not some obscure member of the group holding a sign demanding that we “water the tree of liberty” — to use a Tea Party equivalent. This is the leader of a prominent (for a wacky fringe group) organization issuing a thinly-veiled endorsement of violence against police officers. The lack of condemnation even remotely similar to the hit jobs on the Tea Party movement is quite telling.

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Imagine If a Conervative Had Said It: Child- and Cop-killer Edition

Instant Offsets: Measuring Device Calculates Carbon Dioxide Absorption

Industrial designer Nitipak Samsen is concerned that “Global warming has been driven by capitalism, now we are trying to solve global warming through capitalism.” He has developed a sort of mini-carbon offsetting device he calls a A.T.R.E.E.M. ((Automated Tree-Rental for Emission Encaging Machine), which measures the growth of the tree and the rate of carbon dioxide absorption. You enter your activity (a flight, an electric bill), swipe your card and it measures the growth of the tree that would represent the carbon offset. … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Instant Offsets: Measuring Device Calculates Carbon Dioxide Absorption

Cage Fighter Rips out Still-Beating Heart of Training Partner, Blames "Mushrooms"

A U.S. cage fighter ripped out the heart of his training partner while he was still alive after becoming convinced he was possessed by the devil, it was alleged today. Jarrod Wyatt also cut out Taylor Powell's tongue and ripped off most of his face in a brutal assault that police said looked like a scene from a horror film, officers said. They claim they found the 26-year-old standing naked over his friend's body with parts, including an eyeball, strewn around the blood splattered room in Klamath, California. Wyatt allegedly told police he had drunk a cup of tea spiked with hallucinogenic mushrooms and became convinced Powell was possessed. According to an autopsy Powell, 21, bled to death after his heart was ripped out. The coroner said Powell had been alive when the organ was ripped out after his chest had been sliced open with a knife. (More @ Link) added by: Omnomynous

Woman Sues Google for Bad Directions

One day I was using my cell phone's GPS service to find the nearest Target. I was driving down the road when suddenly my cell phone piped up, “Turn right here.” I looked to the right. There was no road, just a tree and some grass. I chalked it up to a GPS glitch and turned right at the next corner. If I had been Lauren Rosenberg, however, I would have turned right at that very moment, hit the tree, suffered some cuts and minor brain damage, and then turned around and sued Verizon for the glitch in its GPS service. Seriously. Rosenberg, a Los Angeles California native, is suing Google because Google Maps issued directions that told her to walk down a rural highway. She started walking down the highway–which had no sidewalk or pedestrian paths–and was struck by a car. She is suing Google for her medical expenses ($100,000), as well as punitive damages. She is also suing the driver who struck her, Patrick Harwood of Park City, Utah. On January 19, 2010, Rosenberg was apparently trying to get from 96 Daly Street, Park City, Utah, to 1710 Prospector Avenue, Park City, Utah. She looked up the walking directions using Google Maps on her Blackberry. Google Maps suggested a route that included a half-mile walk down “Deer Valley Drive,” which is also known as “Utah State Route 224.” There's not much more to say–she started walking down the middle of a highway, and a car hit her. Who wouldn't have seen that one coming? According to Rosenberg's complaint filing: “As a direct and proximate cause of Defendant Google’s careless, reckless and negligent providing of unsafe directions, Plaintiff Lauren Rosenberg was led onto a dangerous highway, and was thereby stricken by a motor vehicle, causing her to suffer sever permanent physical, emotional, and mental injuries, including pain and suffering.” Google actually does offer up a warning about its walking directions–if you view Google Maps on a computer, it gives you the following message: “Walking directions are in beta. Use caution–This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths.” added by: 02

Watch One Tree Hill Season 7 Episode 22 – Almost Everything I Wish I’d Said The Last Time I Saw You

Watch One Tree Hill S7E22: Almost Everything I Wish I’d Said The Last Time I Saw You Jamie, Nathan and the rest of the Tree Hill friends encouraged Haley to come join them in their road trip to Utah to come and see the first movie showing of Julian’s film to somehow divert her mind off of her depression. The latest episode of One Tree Hill is the TV series’ 22nd episode of the 7th season was aired 05/17/2010 Monday at 8:00 PM on CW. Watch One Tree Hill 7×22 Free Online Streaming Full Episodes Replay of the Latest Season and Video Clip Download Link:

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Watch One Tree Hill Season 7 Episode 22 – Almost Everything I Wish I’d Said The Last Time I Saw You

Brangelina Going Strong on Valentine’s Day

Haters try to keep them down, but Brangelina keeps on shining. Angelina Jolie has not only donated money and time to Haiti , she bought partner Brad Pitt an olive tree – a symbol for peace and longevity – to mark Valentine’s Day. The star – who raises six kids (possibly with baby #7 come in order to save their love ) with Brad – will surprise him on the romantic day with the 200-year-old plant. A source said: “Angelina bought it from a nursery called The English Garden Centre in Valbonne, near their house. It’s a very special tree and cost her a fortune.” Olive trees symbolize peace, longevity and stability and it is believed Angelina has bought the plant for Brad to cement their love and quash recent split rumors. Brangelina haters, step off. Don’t believe the hype. This love is the real deal. The couple put on a solid show of unity at the Super Bowl in Florida on Sunday, taking their eight-year-old son Maddox to watch the annual NFL championship game. They were also making out in public there – take that, tabloids ! The Valentine’s Day gift may be an expensive purchase, but it’s nothing new for pair – known for their lavish spending – who donated $1 million to Haiti relief efforts. Who knows if the tree will set them free of speculation that a breakup is imminent, but it looks like these two may be happier and more normal than some think. Who would have guessed?

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Brangelina Going Strong on Valentine’s Day