The lightning storm that engulfed an erupting Chilean volcano

By Michael Hanlon
DailyMail.co.uk
May 7, 2008
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Few sights in nature can compare to the sheer magnificence of a volcano erupting in full flow.

But while scenes of molten lava are relatively commonplace, this otherworldly picture of Chaiten Volcano in southern Chile shows a truly spectacular, and devastating, volcanic phenomenon.

As clouds of toxic ash and dust tower into the sky, they ionise the air, generating an explosive electrical storm. Colossal forks of lightning spark around the noxious plume as it spews from the volcano’s crater, creating an image of raw, terrifying energy – as if the air itself were ablaze.

Now, the worst-case scenario is the collapse of the volcano accompanied by a “pyroclastic flow” – a devastating super-eruption of scorching dense gas and molten rock that would roll down the mountainside at 100mph or faster, incinerating and flattening all in its wake.

Thankfully, experts think this is unlikely at this stage.

Click here for the full story

Seen from space, Chaiten’s ash plume streams across Argentina towards the Atlantic.

The gigantic plume of smoke from the volcano dominates the skyline.

The village of Chaiten, next to the volcano, was virtually emptied in a massive evacuation.

“CSI” Star Charged With Felony Drug Possession: Heroin, Cocaine And More

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — “CSI” co-star Gary Dourdan has been charged with felony possession of heroin, cocaine and ecstasy stemming from his arrest last month, prosecutors said.

The 41-year-old actor was arrested after police found him asleep in his car in Palm Springs on April 28. He was allegedly parked on the wrong side of the street with the car’s interior light on.

Click here for the original story

A Lesson in Songwriting from John Mayer (Directed by Judd Apatow)

“John Mayer takes YOU behind the scenes of his song-writing process!”

From the video:

John Mayer: Hey Brian, get me the guy who played the whistle in Paradise City—
Assistant: You mean Axl Rose?
John Mayer: I didn’t ask what his name was, just get him for me!

Very funny and worth watching!   Runtime: 3 minutes

Click here to see the video!

Ahmadinejad calls Zionist regime a ‘stinking corpse’, ‘dead rats’ facing ‘annihilation’

Tehran
IRNA, May 8, 2008
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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here on Thursday labeled the Zionist regime as a “stinking corpse” and said those who think they can revive the corpse of this fabricated and usurper regime are in mistaken.

Lambasting the 60th anniversary of establishment of the Zionist regime, he said those who attend such a shameful ceremony should bear in their mind that their names will be listed as Zionist criminals.

Addressing Majlis representatives, he said the philosophy of existence of the Zionist regime is now under question and the usurper and fabricated regime is moving towards annihilation.

The Zionist regime is a puppet for bullying powers, he said adding that the global arrogance established the Zionist regime 60 years ago in Palestine to continue its historical straggles with the Muslim world but after the Lebanese nation slapped it in the face, they are like dead rats.

“If any regional countries assist the Zionist regime, they will burn in fire arising from nations’ hatred,” said the president.

“If some think that they can make any change in the global calculations, they are in mistaken because nations around the world will bury them ,” concluded President Ahmadinejad.

Click here for the original story from the IRNA

Political Office In Alec Baldwin’s Future?

Now that he’s 50, actor tells 60 Minutes political office is looking more appealing

By Morley Safer
Correspondent, 60 Minutes
Story will air this Sunday, May 11 at 7 p.m.
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(CBS) Now that actor Alec Baldwin is 50 years old, he might run for political office. Baldwin talks to 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer about that and other aspects of his life, including his very public divorce and custody battle, in a profile to be broadcast this Sunday, May 11, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

A decade ago, Baldwin was interested in politics, but said he was only 39 and all the people who ran the world were in their fifties. Since then, he has publicly dismissed the notion of running for office. A few weeks ago, he changed his mind. “There’s other things I want to do [besides acting]. I mean, in a matter of weeks, I’m going to be 50,” says Baldwin, who turned 50 on April 3. “There’s no age limit on running for office, to a degree. [It is] something I might do one day,” says Baldwin.

Baldwin says he is ready for the public scrutiny and realizes the tact one must use when running for office because he’s learned a lesson about what he says and how it can affect others in the nasty divorce-custody battle with his ex-wife, Kim Basinger. The spat resulted in the publication of an embarrassing voicemail to his daughter in which he calls her a “thoughtless little pig.”

“If you go through the things I have gone through with the media like this thing with my daughter, there’s only one thing that comes to mind initially: that is how my daughter must have felt to have this played out in public,” Baldwin tells Safer. “The second thing I realize is: you can pretty much bet all you own that I would never leave another voicemail message for my daughter that wasn’t just like something out of a Rogers and Hammerstein score.”

Baldwin discusses the incident with his daughter and the divorce and shows he hasn’t lost any of his combativeness. When asked by Safer whether it was abusive to call his ex-wife’s lawyer a “300-pound. homunculus with a face like a clenched fist,” he replies, “I was being kind, Morley.”

Click here for the full story

There’s a giant elephant in the room…

Awesome website helps you find your lost cell phone — PhoneMyPhone.com

By Adam Pash
Lifehacker.com
May 7, 2008
Click here for the original story
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Misplaced your cell phone around the house and don’t have another phone on hand to call it up to locate it? Give your number to web site PhoneMyPhone and they’ll instantly ring you up. Aside from instant calling to locate your phone, PhoneMyPhone will also schedule phone calls at specific times, similar to previously mentioned Popularity Dialer, to get you out of that boring meeting or awful date if you need it. As for sounding off the ring when you misplace your phone—it may not get a pizza to your door like Google Maps used to, but the easy-to-remember PhoneMyPhone should ensure a quick recovery from the recesses of your couch cushions.

A logical reason for Hillary to stay IN the race?

Found this among the Digg user comments that were responding to the Lawrence O’Donnell story I posted earlier, which said Hillary would likely drop out by June 15.

Digg user Gerz1219 posted:

“No, it’s actually a good thing for Hillary to stay in the race through the rest of the nominating contests [as opposed to dropping out tomorrow], provided that she already knows she’s lost.

If Hillary dropped out tomorrow, Obama would still probably lose states like Kentucky and West Virginia. That would make him look really bad, and the media would seize on this weakness.

If Hillary stays in the race, Obama can just shrug off any losses as the lingering support of Hillary’s die-hard base. Any losses would not necessary reflect on Obama’s weakness among working-class whites, at least not in the same way it would if Obama lost several contests after sealing the nomination.

As long as Hillary adopts a submissive, conciliatory tone, and does not hammer Obama too heavily, it’s a lot better for Hillary to stay in the race through June.”

Direct link to the Digg article

Anyone agree/disagree? Of course I would like to see Clinton bow out ASAP but this is a reasonable argument in favor of Clinton staying in the race all the way. I don’t think Hillary would have the courage to keep asking for more and more money (and donating more of her personal assets to her campaign) to perpetuate a contest that’s already decided. The sooner she drops out, the more time we have to reconcile the differences between the die-hard Clinton supporters reluctant to support Obama, and vice versa.

I wonder what a Clinton supporter thinks of Gerz1219’s proposed engame…