The Speckled Axe

"I found the difficulty of obtaining good and breaking bad habits in other points of vice and virtue, have given up the struggle, and concluded that a speckled axe was best…" -Benjamin Franklin

thedailyfeed:

For this haunting photo series “Ghosts of War,” Jo Teeuwisse superimposed images of World War II soldiers onto images of present-day European streets where they once fought.

incredibly striking.

reuters: U.S. stock markets to close on Monday, possibly Tuesday U.S. stock trading will be closed on Monday and possibly Tuesday in response to Hurricane Sandy, NYSE Euronext said late on Sunday. NYSE Euronext, which runs the New York Stock Exchange, had previously said that electronic trading would remain open and that only the exchange’s trading floor would close. In a statement, the company said that “the dangerous conditions developing as a result of Hurricane Sandy will make it extremely difficult to ensure the safety of our people and communities, and safety must be our first priority.” LIVE COVERAGE: Updates on Hurricane Sandy

reuters:

U.S. stock markets to close on Monday, possibly Tuesday

U.S. stock trading will be closed on Monday and possibly Tuesday in response to Hurricane Sandy, NYSE Euronext said late on Sunday.

NYSE Euronext, which runs the New York Stock Exchange, had previously said that electronic trading would remain open and that only the exchange’s trading floor would close.

In a statement, the company said that “the dangerous conditions developing as a result of Hurricane Sandy will make it extremely difficult to ensure the safety of our people and communities, and safety must be our first priority.”

LIVE COVERAGE: Updates on Hurricane Sandy

Paul Ryan Takes a Side in the War on Poverty: He's Against What Works

In 1959, 22.1 percent of Americans lived below the poverty line.

In 1969, 13.7 percent of Americans lived below the poverty line.

The poverty level has varied since 1969. It has gone as high as 15 percent. But it has never again gotten anywhere near where it was in 1959.

What changed during the 1960s to dramatically decrease poverty?

“Centralized, bureaucratic, top-down anti-poverty programs” like Medicare (1965), Medicare (1965), the initiatives launched with the Food Stamp Act of 1964 and Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 programs such as the Jobs Corps (1964) and Head Start (1965).

Those programs worked.

(Source: azspot)

fotojournalismus: Honduran citizen Dorma Espinoza wipes away tears as a picture of her son Alberto Sadai, who disappeared 10 years ago during his journey through Mexico to reach the U.S., hangs around her neck in Tultitlan October 26, 2012. A group of 60 mothers from Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala will cross Mexico on a journey called “Caravana de Madres Centroamericanas” (Caravan of Central American Mothers), following the route of the missing migrants, local media reported. [Credit : Edgard Garrido/Reuters]

fotojournalismus:

Honduran citizen Dorma Espinoza wipes away tears as a picture of her son Alberto Sadai, who disappeared 10 years ago during his journey through Mexico to reach the U.S., hangs around her neck in Tultitlan October 26, 2012. A group of 60 mothers from Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala will cross Mexico on a journey called “Caravana de Madres Centroamericanas” (Caravan of Central American Mothers), following the route of the missing migrants, local media reported.

[Credit : Edgard Garrido/Reuters]

imwithkanye: Waters Run High. Red Hook, Brooklyn is flooded. [via] stay safe, everyone.

imwithkanye:

Waters Run High. Red Hook, Brooklyn is flooded. [via]

stay safe, everyone.

wnyc: (One of the most recent satellite images of Hurricane Sandy, via the NASA GOES project.) Hurricane Sandy is nearing landfall this morning - and we’re keeping an eye on the storm.  Tune into WNYC for the latest news, and keep in touch with us on Twitter — we’d love to hear (and share) your stories!  (For a roundup of everything we’re doing on and off social media, try this page.) WNYC’s Hurricane Resources:  Sandy Tracker | Transit Tracker | NYC Evacuation Zones | Storm Surge Zones In NY/NJ  

wnyc:

(One of the most recent satellite images of Hurricane Sandy, via the NASA GOES project.)

Hurricane Sandy is nearing landfall this morning - and we’re keeping an eye on the storm. 

Tune into WNYC for the latest news, and keep in touch with us on Twitter — we’d love to hear (and share) your stories! 

(For a roundup of everything we’re doing on and off social media, try this page.) 

WNYC’s Hurricane Resources: 

Sandy Tracker | Transit Tracker | NYC Evacuation Zones | Storm Surge Zones In NY/NJ  

r thedailyfeed: The rich got richer and the poor got poorer in 20 states last year. The median income last year came in at $50,502, down from $51,144 for 2010; income inequality, using a measure called the Gini coefficient, jumped a statistically significant 1.3 percent in the same 12 months, new census statistics show.  Today, the 400 richest Americans have more money than the 150 million on the bottom of the pay ladder, economist Robert Reich pointed out on moveon.org.  Not such a peaceful shade of blue.

r

thedailyfeed:

The rich got richer and the poor got poorer in 20 states last year.

The median income last year came in at $50,502, down from $51,144 for 2010; income inequality, using a measure called the Gini coefficient, jumped a statistically significant 1.3 percent in the same 12 months, new census statistics show. 

Today, the 400 richest Americans have more money than the 150 million on the bottom of the pay ladder, economist Robert Reich pointed out on moveon.org. 

Not such a peaceful shade of blue.

8bitfuture: Newly discovered galaxy could be oldest ever seen. A new paper published in Nature details what could be the oldest galaxy ever viewed, with light first shining from the galaxy when the universe was only 500 million years old. Light from the primordial galaxy traveled approximately 13.2 billion light-years before reaching NASA’s telescopes. In other words, the starlight snagged by Hubble and Spitzer left the galaxy when the universe was just 3.6 percent of its present age. Technically speaking, the galaxy has a redshift, or “z,” of 9.6. The term redshift refers to how much an object’s light has shifted into longer wavelengths as a result of the expansion of the universe. Astronomers use redshift to describe cosmic distances. Unlike previous detections of galaxy candidates in this age range, which were only glimpsed in a single color, or waveband, this newfound galaxy has been seen in five different wavebands. As part of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova Survey with Hubble Program, the Hubble Space Telescope registered the newly described, far-flung galaxy in four visible and infrared wavelength bands. Spitzer measured it in a fifth, longer-wavelength infrared band, placing the discovery on firmer ground. Objects at these extreme distances are mostly beyond the detection sensitivity of today’s largest telescopes. To catch sight of these early, distant galaxies, astronomers rely on gravitational lensing. In this phenomenon, predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago, the gravity of foreground objects warps and magnifies the light from background objects. A massive galaxy cluster situated between our galaxy and the newfound galaxy magnified the newfound galaxy’s light, brightening the remote object some 15 times and bringing it into view.

8bitfuture:

Newly discovered galaxy could be oldest ever seen.

A new paper published in Nature details what could be the oldest galaxy ever viewed, with light first shining from the galaxy when the universe was only 500 million years old.

Light from the primordial galaxy traveled approximately 13.2 billion light-years before reaching NASA’s telescopes. In other words, the starlight snagged by Hubble and Spitzer left the galaxy when the universe was just 3.6 percent of its present age. Technically speaking, the galaxy has a redshift, or “z,” of 9.6. The term redshift refers to how much an object’s light has shifted into longer wavelengths as a result of the expansion of the universe. Astronomers use redshift to describe cosmic distances.

Unlike previous detections of galaxy candidates in this age range, which were only glimpsed in a single color, or waveband, this newfound galaxy has been seen in five different wavebands. As part of the Cluster Lensing And Supernova Survey with Hubble Program, the Hubble Space Telescope registered the newly described, far-flung galaxy in four visible and infrared wavelength bands. Spitzer measured it in a fifth, longer-wavelength infrared band, placing the discovery on firmer ground.

Objects at these extreme distances are mostly beyond the detection sensitivity of today’s largest telescopes. To catch sight of these early, distant galaxies, astronomers rely on gravitational lensing. In this phenomenon, predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago, the gravity of foreground objects warps and magnifies the light from background objects. A massive galaxy cluster situated between our galaxy and the newfound galaxy magnified the newfound galaxy’s light, brightening the remote object some 15 times and bringing it into view.

(Source: nasa.gov, via aqg818l1ycdxx654s5ok-deactivate)