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POPSFort Hood Suspect Said His Goodbyes Before Rampage
The rampage unfolded at a center where some 300 unarmed soldiers were lined up for vaccines and eye tests. Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" " an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" " before opening fire Thursday, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander. He said officials had not confirmed Hasan made the comment. Hasan was due to be deployed to Afghanistan to help soldiers with combat stress, a task he'd done stateside with returning soldiers, the Army said. In any event, the major was saying goodbyes and dispensing belongings to neighbors. Jose Padilla, the owner of Hasan's apartment complex, said Hasan gave him notice two weeks ago that he was moving out this week. Earlier this week, Hasan asked Padilla his native language. When Padilla said it was Spanish, Hasan immediately went up to his apartment to get him a Spanish-language Quran. Padilla said Hasan also refused to reclaim his deposit and last month's rent.....
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POPSIndian frozen river trek 'top tip for adventure break' A frozen river trek in India was one of the suggestions for an adventure holiday in a list compiled by travel experts for the Guardian. The trek, which leads into the remote Zanskar region in northern India, offers travellers an opportunity to walk a route that has been used by tradesmen for hundreds of years.
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POPSFraud Could Undermine Housing Tax Credit as Troubling Report Emerges
The Government Accountability Office reports that $10 billion had been spent on 1.4 million credits as of late August. As the economy hit trouble in 2008, Congress passed a $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers as a no-interest, long-term loan to stimulate the housing market. The credit was expanded under the economic recovery act passed in February to $8,000, not as a loan, but a fully refundable credit. Economists worry that the tax break is going to those who would have purchased homes anyway, and filling homes by vacating others " as renters become buyers " without benefit to the economy as a whole. Estimates are that more than three-quarters of the expected 1.5 million taxpayers who will have tapped the program would have bought homes even without the tax credit, putting the price to the government at about $43,000 per homebuyer who would not have bought a house without the credit. The Government Accountability Office reports that 59 percent of those claiming . .
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POPSIndian Engineer 'builds' new glaciers via Cakebelly (Amplify) cakebelly says: “So far, Mr Norphel’s glaciers have been able to each store up to one million cubic feet of ice, which in turn can irrigate 200 hectares of farm land. For farmers, that can make the difference between crop failure and a bumper crop of more than 1,000 tons of wheat. The “iceman” says he has seen the effects of global warming on farmland as snows have become thinner on the ground and ice rivers have melted away never to return. His own work has now been recognised by the Indian government, which has given him £16,000 to build five new glaciers. But time is his enemy, he told The Hindustan Times. “I’m planning to train villagers with instruction CDs that I have made, so that I can pass on the knowledge before I die,” he said. “
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POPSPhysicists Calculate Number of Parallel Universes
Think it's crazy? Check this out, then: To work these numbers out, Linde and Vanchurin looked back to the time shortly after the Big Bang, which they view as a quantum process that generated lots of quantum fluctuations. Then during the period of inflation, the universe grew rapidly and these quantum fluctuations were "frozen" into classical perturbations in distinct regions. Today, each of these regions could be a different universe, having its own distinct laws of low energy physics. By analyzing the mechanism (called "slow roll inflation") that initially generated the quantum fluctuations, the scientists could estimate the number of resulting universes at 10^10^10^7 (a number which is dependent on the model they used). However, this number is limited by other factors, specifically by the limits of the human brain. Since the total amount of information that one individual can absorb in a lifetime is about 10^16 bits, which is equivalent to 10^10^16 configurations, this means tha
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POPSHeavenly Handmade Gyoza They're fun to make and such a great treat. Good for you too! Try this simple recipe and you'll never buy pre-made gyoza again.
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POPSshrunken heads in cider For some reason these shrunken apple heads make me laugh. Creepy and funny and tasty? Perfect for a party. Thanks Martha.