| Fun facts about leap years
A leap year is a year in the Gregorian calendar with one extra day added to the end of February, making the month 29 days long. The day was established to keep the seasons and the calendar in sync. A year is measured by the amount of time it takes the sun to return to the spot directly above the Earth's equator. Although it actually takes 365.2422 days, we round it to 365. But this results in an error of 0.2422 days, or almost 6 hours, per year. After 100 years this calendar would be more than 24 days ahead of the seasons, but leap day makes up for the inaccuracy. Years that end in "00" would only be a leap year if they are divisible by 400. So 1900 was not a leap year, but 2000 was. In honor of the day that comes but once every four years, we give you 29 great leaps and leapers.
NATURE'S ASSASSIN
I had come, not to Africa, but to Central America, as a freelance correspondent on assignment, spending months living with guerrilla fighters and refugees in the steamy hot, mountainous forests of Nicaragua and El Salvador. At some point during that time, the anopheles mosquito did its work. Like most victims, I was probably bitten at night, the insect injecting me with the one-celled plasmodia parasite when I was sleeping deeply after yet another long, exhausting day in the sweltering bush. Scientists say that as many as 50,000 plasmodia could swim in a pool the size of a full stop. But it takes only one to enter the bloodstream and make its way to the host's liver, where it multiplies and infects the red-blood cells, to trigger malaria. Four species of plasmodia normally infect humans, and by far the most dangerous is Plasmodium falciparum.
Clips of murdered teenager on YouTube
MURDERED teenager Faridon Alizada made videos of himself happy slapping people and fighting before posting them on the internet. The 18-year-old, who was also known by the nickname Fighterrr, was a member of a gang of teenagers who call themselves IVS and posted videos of their exploits on YouTube. However, police say they do not think his murder was gang-related. The video clips on YouTube featuring the murdered youth are called Fighterrr and are numbered from one to 15. Most of the clips feature him talking to camera, posturing and bragging to camera in the style of a gangster rapper. In some clips he smokes and attempts to break wooden planks and bricks with his hands. .
Jessica Alba Whines About Unfair Treatment
Jessica Alba is fighting back against people who criticize her for not being true to her roots. The pregnant star, who is on the cover of the new Latina magazine, is particularly pissed at blogger Perez Hilton, I would imagine, for constantly referring to her as Jessica "Don't Call Me Latina" Alba. The actress admits to never being taught Spanish as a child even though her father is a second-generation Mexican-American, but she is sick of getting picked on! "No one gives Cameron Diaz a hard time for not speaking Spanish," Jessica pouts to the mag. "Her dad's Cuban, and I was telling her I feel so bad because everyone is so nasty to me for not speaking Spanish. She's like, 'I don't speak Spanish! I barely speak English!'" Aww, man. Cam took the words right out of my mouth! Back to Jess, she says she was turned down for a role in a Spike Lee movie because she didn't speak the Spanish, but then the role went to Rosario Dawson who doesn't know her asno from her codo either.
Delphos library gearing up for busy new year
Digging around more carefully, Kinsey unearths horrifying details of Solana's past and must act quickly to save Gus. Twisted Justice — Patricia Gussin Laura is a successful surgeon with five children and a prominent husband, Steve, who works as a nightly news anchor on the Tampa TV News. Her seemingly perfect world shatters when she discovers that Steve is sharing much more than a news desk with his sexy co-anchor, Kim. When Kim is murdered, Laura becomes the prime suspect and within days, lands in jail facing murder charges. Laura's perfect life spirals into a perfect nightmare when Steve turns on her in the worst ways imaginable: leaving Laura in jail, incriminating her on television, and holding their children captive. In an all too real world where things are not always as they seem, looks can be deceiving — and deceit can be deadly.
PAC-10 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PREVIEW
Arizona State, in particular, has been a disappointment, dropping to 6-5 with a home loss to Texas last week. It is the program's worst start since the 1998-99 season. The Sun Devils, who have had four players miss a total of 16 games, also fell out of the national rankings this week for the first time since the 2004-05 season. "We didn't get done what we wanted to get done, and we disappoint ourselves and the conference a little bit with that," Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We feel good about our team, but we're not satisfied. We want to get back to consistently winning game in and game out." Pac-10 teams have a combined 63-46 record in nonconference play. The .577 winning percentage is the lowest since 2001 (.542) and the conference RPI is currently No.
Two Photos Get Smart
Smart is partnered instead with the lovely-but-lethal veteran Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). Given little field experience and even less time, Smart—armed with nothing but a few spy-tech gadgets and his unbridled enthusiasm—must thwart the doomsday plans of KAOS head Siegfried (Terance Stamp).
Get Smart has been rated PG-13 for some rude humor, action violence and language.
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Free medical care for talented Yemenis
My experience in giving medical care to Yemeni and Arab creative persons residing in Sanaa started as back as far as Aug 15, 1992. I started providing the service in a single room at Dr. Abu Bakr Al-Qirbis clinic on Baghdad Street. The driving force behind that initiative that was unprecedented in any other country of the world was my appreciation for intellectuals and artists in general, and of those living in Yemen in particular.
Historical documents prove that they have spearheaded changes for the better as they struggled their way to revolution, liberation, renaissance and unity. As is usually stated, they cause their nations to be remembered thanks to their intellectual production, most of which will continue to crown the forehead of the nation. It was they who, for the first time, managed to build our countrys NGOs by way of example and not limitation, for example with the Aden-based Arab Literature Club.
Now I Know Why I’m an Elitist Snob; it’s Neurological
Science is one of those things that, unless you live in a particular field (and I don't mean agricultural field) you are going to be one of the last to hear something new. That being said, the sheer weight of people outside of any given scientific field as compared to those within, would suggest that we on the outside are the norm, and those on the inside are the aberrations. Nevertheless, with many advances in scientific knowledge, it takes the rest of the world a little while to catch up. This is definitely the case with a discovery that was published in the journal Neuron, not within the last few weeks, but back in May of 2006. Authored by Jason Mitchell and Mahzarin R. Banaji, of Harvard University, and C Neil Macrae, at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, the journal article is entitled "Dissociable Medial Prefrontal Contributions to Judgments of Similar and Dissimilar Others." Now I love scientific journals, because once again we refer back to my "inside/outside field" effect.
Autistic and adored: Couple’s dating guide tackles social challenges
Emilia Murry Ramey and Jody John Ramey met through a mutual friend. They soon discovered they had more in common than their friend. Both were students at Portland State University. And both have autism. The Vancouver couple are among the estimated 1.5 million Americans living with the effects of some degree of autism. Specifically, Emilia and Jody both have Asperger’s Disorder, marked by social awkwardness and a lack of understanding of conventional social rules. As if dating weren’t hard enough. "I hadn’t had any dating experience before meeting her," said Jody, 35. "I used to say I had more jobs than dates," joked Emilia, 33. Not only did Jody and Emilia figure out dating, they laid out tips for others in a book, "Autistics’ Guide to Dating: A Book by Autistics, for Autistics and Those Who Love Them or Who Are In Love with Them." London-based Jessica Kingsley Publishers expected to release the book as early as today.
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