Cool, isn't it?  -   The title for my post comes from a goal that I drew after reading this book.   When I saw this photograph I realized the house would fit in perfectly.   Additional images plus shots of the interior follow the jump.

- Treehugger

19-year-old William Kamkwamba won a standing ovation for his shy 3-minute interview, revealing how as a 14-year-old he had solved his parents' energy needs in a village with no electricity.   It's a story of ingenuity and adaptation that will move you.

-   At TED  /  Windmill Blog

I'm a little late getting to this one. - To answer, let me take you for a walk.. 

"Imagine that you are walking in a hot desert, in which all you can see is sand, and you are very thirsty.  If, through the heat haze in the distance, you suddenly see a lake surrounded by palm trees, your heart might, for a moment, make a leap of relief at the thought of the water soon to slake your thirst.  Probably quite quickly, however, you will recall that this sort of thing has been reported before;  that in all probability it is only a mirage.  Then you hear a voice in your head, telling you not to get excited.  If you make the effort to remember, you will recall that you are not actually walking anywhere;  that you are in fact testing out the very latest in virtual reality simulation and isn't it incredibly realistic?  Then you wake up."

- There's More

Undercover reporter Michelle Madigan (Associate Producer of NBC Dateline) got a little more than she bargained for when she tried to sneak in to DEFCON 2007 with hidden cameras to get someone to confess to a felony.   When DEFCON staff announced the “spot the undercover reporter” game.....

- Story and Video at ZDNet 

Maybe it's just the happy look on this guy's face.  8)  lol     After this article caused me to literally  laugh at my computer yesterday,  I thought I could write my response off to a peculiar mood or perhaps I'd  simply been caught off-guard.   However, I opened the article this morning and  soon found myself laughing all over again.   As a result, here it is in my blog  - bawdy comments and all.   Hopefully some of  you will find it entertaining too.

-  Cracked.com

This is a conspiracy film that may be the next "Loose Change" of the Internet;  however, far from confining itself to 9-11,  Zeitgeist begins with an astrological explanation of the 'Jesus Myth' and an assertion that those who reign have been using religion to control the masses for centuries.

From there, the film walks through some of the largest military conflicts in history, explaining how each can be traced to a false flag event or simply a willingness to look the other way. -  The film suggests that the staging of of these events can be traced back to our nation's very most wealthy.  Our system of banking receives top blame.

Although clearly controversial, I think anyone with an open mind and a measure of skepticism will enjoy watching it, and I know that I did.  The movie can be viewed freely online, or delivered to your mailbox for only $7 bucks.

-  Zeitgeist Movie

On Tuesday, six amazing people of conscience risked their lives to defend the Tibetan people.   Mel, Sam, Leslie, Pete, Nupur and Duane dropped a 450-square foot banner from the Great Wall of China.   "One World, One Dream" is the motto for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which opens in a year's time.  The protesters were on the Wall for about two hours before being detained and taken away.  No other details were immediately available.  In April, China deported five Americans after they unfurled similar banners at the base of Everest.

-  Watch  The Video  /  Reuters /   Digg It

- Credit to Jill

“It’s Here Now, Are You?” is the inside story of the seminal American guru Bhagavan Das, told by himself.  Rich in history and certainly interesting, the book emphasizes love and personal effort as a means to knowing the Divine.  That said, you'll find very little philosophy here.  It's a tell-all tale that is at times questionable, at times controversial, but I believe most of all written from the heart.

The top reviews at Amazon are especially helpful, including the third which ends by recommending the book despite pointing out several criticisms of Bhagavan's life.  Personally, I ended the book recognizing some of the poorer choices made by Bhagavan Das but doing so with a sense that I didn't want to judge.  Had I been given (or been brave enough to take) the path that Bhagavan Das followed, I'm not sure that I would have performed any better. In the end, it's a story about God and love and adventure, and it's very human.  I absolutely loved it.

-  Official Site   /   At Zaadz   /   Amazon

The show begins between 9:00 and 10:00 pm on Sunday, August 12th.  This is the time to look for Perseid Earthgrazers–meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping the surface of a pond.

The meteor rate will increase through the night and reach a crescendo before dawn when rates could exceed a meteor a minute.  Thanks to a new Moon this year–which means no moonlight, even faint meteors should be visible.

- Bad Astronomy  /  NASA

"It's not the first time that citizen "investigative journalists" have uncovered some embarrassing, or telling, nugget from the past that apparently remained buried for years. But it has happened again with the posting of a now wildly popular video on YouTube that shows Dick Cheney explaining in 1994 that trying to take over Iraq would be a "bad idea" and lead to a "quagmire."

- Editor & Publisher  /  Digg It

"At 20:31 on August 8, 2007, the online edition of China Daily posted an article titled: "China invites the world to Olympics."   The following sentence appeared:   "Security was tight around Tiananmen Square, where troops crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989 with huge loss of life, as crowds gathered for the celebrations."

- There's More   /  Digg It

-  More by Bob Seal

In head-to-head polling against the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, Clinton and Obama have managed to post only modest leads. Edwards, by contrast, not only bests every Republican candidate in the race, he trounces them -- by an average of twelve points.

"It's enough to make a Republican stragegist suicidal."

His climate-change plan was the runaway favorite in a MoveOn.org straw poll that followed the Live Earth concerts. And in a recent survey of more than 16,000 Democrats on Daily Kos, Edwards emerged as the top choice, registering forty percent support to Obama's twenty-two percent.    "Edwards' proposals go the furthest -- they're like the ideal," says Moulitsas of Daily Kos. -  "Everybody else is playing it so safe it's dreadful."

-  Rolling Stone - 3 Pages

-  More at Cold Hard Flash

Today, Countrywide borrowed $11.5 billion from 40 banks to fund new loans.   Fannie Mae said its profits were down 36%.  That I can count, the Federal Reserve has pumped $71 billion into our economy, and last week many joked that Jim Cramer was going to have a heart attack.  - If you haven't seen the related video checkout Market Meltdown.
  
Sadly, I have to admit that I have a hard time following a lot of this.  Studying money and markets, no matter how important,  just isn't something that's ever appealed to me.   However, recognizing the significance of these events, I sought information about our status and also how we arrived here.  The following article is, I believe, the best result of that search.  If there's anything you'd like to add,  please feel free. 

-   Plural Politics   /   Digg It

Perhaps you've heard of the Political Compass website, where you can take a test that places you on a grid based on the degree to which you are "left" or "right" on the economic scale as well as how socially libertarian or authoritarian you are.   Anyway, thanks to  London's TimesOnline, we can see how the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates fit on the grid.

-  Crooks & Liars  /   My Test  

(Aug. 17, 2007) - Scientists from the Ulysses mission have proven that sounds generated deep inside the Sun cause the Earth to shake and vibrate in sympathy. They have found that Earth’s magnetic field, atmosphere and terrestrial systems, all take part in this cosmic sing-along.

- European Space Agency

Competing issues aside, this documentary asks a very straightforward question:  "Where is the law that requires Americans to pay income tax on labor?"  It  pointedly asserts that as defined by the constitution and ratified by the Supreme Court--several times, your labor is your property and the exchange of labor for pay represents an even trade with your employer--not "income" which can only apply to business and only arise from gain.

The appeal is immediate.  Even if untrue, I found myself sympathetic to the argument because it calls for a drastic change to our system of taxation with low and  middle class workers reaping the primary benefit.  Unfortunately, after watching the film last night and searching critical reviews today, I suspect that the argument is flawed.  Although the answer was not readily evident to me in this IRS publication, which seems crafted to address this question, it did appear available to me here.  As this author convincingly argues, unfortunately, the "IRS Code" is the law.

I'd love to be proven wrong on this, and perhaps one day I will.  It's worth noting that presidential candidate Ron Paul, who continues to impress in the polls despite trailing, favors this view in at least some form.  For an interesting look at that, check out this interview  where he made handy-work of Fox News' Neil Cavuto. 

- Google Video /  1 hr 51 min

In the middle of a heat wave, the Tennessee Valley Authority has been forced to shut down a reactor at Browns Ferry because water drawn from the Tennessee River was exceeding a 90-degree average over 24 hours.   It's unclear from the text if water conditions are the result of thermal discharge, the natural rise of river temperature, or a combination of both; however, the shutdown appears to be the first incident of this type.

- Treehugger   

The Khampa Festival in Qinghai Province traditionally draws Tibetans from all over western China. It's a celebration of old traditions during the long, hot days of summer, before the early onset of autumn and a harsh, prolonged winter.

This year, for the first time, local officials tried to use the event to promote tourism and development, but the Tibetans were apparently noncompliant.  When Chinese-speaking announcers tried to get the crowd involved in the singing and dancing, using every trick in the book, the Tibetan people remained silent.  After a moment of uneasy quiet, the female M.C. offered her own interpretation,  heard over a live microphone. “They’re ignoring us,” she said.

-  New York Times  /  Slide Show

In the first half of this year, home foreclosures are up by 41 percent.   Between now and 2009, two million families are expected to have the wrenching experience of losing their homes, as well as the money they invested in them, primarily due to the rise and fall in subprime housing.

Fortunately, we don't have to miss out on understanding what happened--even if we lack familiarity with the finance industry's jargon.  At its core, this is a classically simple of story of  banker greed and willful looking away.  In this brilliantly written article, Jim Hightower puts everything in place

-  AlterNet.org  /  Digg It

"My station was intimidated by the administration and its foot soldiers at FOX News."

That is CNN's Christiane Amanpour explaining why the major television networks failed to accurately inform the public in the lead-up to the Iraq war, choosing instead to follow FOX's lead.   Now that FOX is building a case for war with Iran, using the exact same rhetoric,  we have a chance to speak to the other networks before it's allowed to happen.

-  Please sign the open letter

In the newest version of Google Earth, you can view both earth and sky.   It looks like a great tool for everyone, and something especially cool for people who have kids.  The software is free for Windows, Mac and Linux.  A quick video will start you on your way.

While checking out Google Earth, I also tried Stellarium.   It's a free, open source alternative that makes you feel like you're standing in  your back yard.  Although Stellarium doesn't have the depth of field I found in Google Earth, it's highly informative with a much more natural feel. I'm glad I got them both.

-  Wired Magazine  /  Also Lifehacker

I didn't blog about "God's Warriors,"  but I watched all three episodes and since then I've been following the conversation at the various places I visit online.  Because of what I've seen there, I'd like to share a quote from Christiane Amanpour.  In it she's responding to a question that asks, "How can you even begin to compare Islamic extremists with Christians or Jews? How can you even put them in the same sentence?"

Amanpour:   We're not comparing. We're showing that each faith has their committed and fervent believers, and we're showing how each of those are active in the political sphere in today's world.

That idea seems incredibly important to me.  I'm making a point to remember it the next time someone begins an objection with "...there is no comparison."

-  CNN: Full Interview

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the unnameable lately, you’re in good company.  Scientists just discovered a swath of universe in which there’s really, well, nothing:

"The cosmic blank spot has no stray stars, no galaxies, no sucking black holes, not even mysterious dark matter. It is 1 billion light years across of nothing. That’s an expanse of nearly 6 billion trillion miles of emptiness, a University of Minnesota team announced Thursday.

This is 1,000 times the volume of what we sort of expected to see in terms of a typical void,” said Minnesota astronomy professor Lawrence Rudnick, author of the paper that will be published in Astrophysical Journal. “It’s not clear that we have the right word yet … This is too much of a surprise."

- LiveScience  /  music, lagniappe