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POPS20 Heads of State in Venezuela for Pact on Cheap Oil The pact has helped Chavez promote his vision of regional independence from the United States. He used the summit to blame Washington for international economic problems, and called US military spending in Iraq "madness." He also denied criticism from Venezuelan opponents who say he is giving away Venezuela's oil wealth. Reading from an opposition statement accusing him of "bribery diplomacy," Chavez mused: "It's very probable this was written in the U.S. Embassy." Some Petrocaribe member countries have the option of paying partially for oil with services or goods such as rice, bananas and sugar. To help boost agriculture, Chavez said Venezuela will donate US$460 million from its oil proceeds annually to create an aid fund providing farming supplies and machinery in the region. He also offered to supply subsidized fertilizer to other countries. ... iht Great man. Any of this in the 'free and fair' USA media? Doubt it!
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POPSExceptional Oil Painting by Jacques Resch "A painting by Jacques Resch is not perceived in a single glance. It is peeled back little by little through the thousand subtleties that you discover during this encounter." -- Harry Kampainne Again, 'stolen' by me from Ninadalton. My attempt here does no justice to these painting. At the site is much better.
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POPSSurreal Images 'Stolen' by me from Ninadalton. My justification? They're too good to be missed and they had been. Forgiven?
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POPSNew Mexico: Land of Enchantment , Clean Energy State. Although 25 states have approved their own RPS, a national standard has stalled in the face of resistance from traditional coal-powered utilities and their allies in Congress. Wind and biomass are popular in New Mexico, but the desert sun that draws millions of tourists here also makes its solar power potential the second largest in America. So it is that the Clean Energy State's future just may lie in the south corner of the capital city, at the end of a dry road marked by a mile-long sculpture of a snake with jewelled eyes. ... Guardian
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POPSCanadian Wins Major International Book Prize De Niro's Game , which follows characters caught in the civil war in Beirut in the 1980s, is "a magnificent achievement for a writer writing in a third language," the five-member international jury said in its citation. "Its originality, its power, its lyricism, as well as its humane appeal all mark De Niro's Game as the work of a major literary talent and make Rawi Hage a truly deserving winner." The Beirut-born writer, who lived through nine years of civil war in the Lebanese capital before his family emigrated to Canada, called himself "a fortunate man. "After a long journey of war, displacement and separation, I feel that I am one of the few wanderers who is privileged enough to have been rewarded, and for that I am very grateful."
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POPSGuys, What wouldn't you HUMP? Bots A 33-year-old known only as Zoltan made news in Georgia by marrying the robot he built. Zoltan and his womandroid have a happy relationship, not only because she doesn't have voice capability, but also because she surprisingly has no presidential aspirations. Beer Bottles Straight from the fertile 'tard farm of Yahoo! Answers comes this provocative inquiry: "How do I get my penis out of a beer bottle?" Don't bother replying, folks—moments later, the questioner explained that he freed himself by cracking a hole in the base of the bottle and applying some ice before lubing it all up. Buddy, that's not what they mean by "Tap the Rockies." So, which is the more creative sex? Maybe the females can come up with better.
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POPSHUMMERS: End of the Road?! {& pics} "Let's just say they're not selling like they used to," says Neil Kopit, director of marketing at Criswell Hummer, a dealership in Maryland. Sales of the Hummer H1's successor, the slightly smaller H2, were down 27% in 2007 on the previous year, and GM, which had come to rely on its sales of what the industry terms "large vehicles", has announced the closure of four SUV-manufacturing plants in the US, Canada and Mexico. Nor is the decline confined to Hummers, or to America. British registrations of 4x4 vehicles fell by more than 18% last month, it was reported yesterday. The drop is part of a Europe-wide collapse in the gas-guzzler market: as a proportion of cars sold in France and Spain in the first half of this year, SUVs fell by 50% and 35% respectively. ... Guardian
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POPSMugabe is in Rome!!! Is he NUTS ??? Will he make it back to Zimbabwe? If he pulls this ploy off then he doesn't need electing. He either has the hardest 'balls' or the softest brain! This has to be part of an end play or I'm a dodo. Where is his next stop? Saudi Arabia, Amin's refuge? Bush's ranch, with all the other criminals of the last 8 years? Any advances?
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POPSThe Best of ‘Feel Art Again’ Wonderful works - revisited; the links will take you to a detailed discussion for each piece. I actually learned a lot from this - enjoy. Mental Floss has an ongoing series of 'Feel Art Again' - Tues. & Thurs. - http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs
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POPSSelf-Portraits in Oil - BB art series
"According to my theory, all our basic sexual instincts except their straightforward manifestations are the instrument in the hands of an artist. In this series I’m taking the basic instrument – my body and inspired by great artists use their techniques, my experience and plunge into the intercourse to unite and be one. I’m overwhelmed by desire to not primitively mimic the technique, but plunge inside, learn what was driving the genius, what inspired him. Before starting each work I studied in detail the work of the artist. It’s a kind of a present to my favourite artists. All the materials or textures used in the compilations were painted by me in oil. All works are self-portraits." ...Katerina Tumanova (Belkina) Country: Odincovo, Russian Federation Title: Paint Russian digital artist, painter and photographer, born in Samara. Education - art school and than art college "Petrov-Vodkin" of Samara. 2000-2002 - Photo Academy. Samara Works - 1994 -1999 Fedorov 's publishing corpora
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POPS'bizarre mix of mammal, bird and reptile, with very complex sexuality' The fact that the animal has five X and five Y chromosomes is "the weirdest thing about a very weird animal," said Ewan Birney, a co-author on the paper, based at the European Bioinformatics Institute, near Cambridge. "In theory it means there are 25 possible sexes, though in practice that doesn't happen."