10 Fascinating Last Pictures Taken

The words “Last picture taken” before his or her death conjure up many emotions, whether in front of the camera or behind it. This list consists of 10 last time stamps in history taken of and by some fascinating individuals.

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"All of these have a lingering sadness about them. One can never know which picture is going to be their last…"

The Essential 007: A Recap of All 22 Bond Movies

Before you go out and watch the much-anticipated new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace , here is a quick recap on the evolution of the cinema’s most successful and recognizable stars.
James Bond has been portrayed, so far, by six different actors - Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig - and his movies have undergone even more change and variety than the people portraying him.
Thankfully, the movies are generally unrelated stories so you don’t have to watch each successive sequel in order to really understand and appreciate the newer installments, but it’s always good to know about the history of the series before watching the newest releases.
As you know, Quantum of Solace is the 23rd Bond film (although only the 22nd official one - Never Say Never Again is not recognized as an official 007 film), and I have gone back and reviewed the first 22 movies so you don’t have to spend 50 or so hours catching up. So here they are, starting with the Bonds of Sean Connery. Enjoy!

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“Shaken not Stirred”

Bush Could be Executed For War Crimes

Members of the Bush administration and George W. Bush personally conspired to violate the Geneva Convention, US obligations to it as well as US criminal codes! When it became apparent to Bush that he and high ranking members of his administration were culpable and could be put to death upon conviction, Bush tried to make his crimes legal --but only after he had committed them.

Clearly --the Bush administration itself is aware that it is in deep, deep trouble.
...there is one group of people that has always taken the war crimes charges seriously--the members of the Bush administration themselves. They have good reason for doing so, because they have exposed hundreds of Americans to possible prosecution for violating US law.

As long as George Bush is president and controls the Department of Justice, there will no prosecutions for war crimes, but after Bush is gone, anything could happen and hundreds of Americans could be charged with war crimes.

Unless Bush plans to make his escape to Paraguay while still 'President', his exit from the Oval Office will make him vulnerable to process for violations of the War Crimes Act of 1996 passed by both houses of Congress without dissent. The act covers every crime that may be charged to Bush as of this moment and as of the time Bush will exit the 'cover' of the Oval Office.

The act deals specifically with his deliberate "killing, torture or inhumane treatment" of 'detainees' at Abu Ghraib, GITMO and the gulag archipelago of 'detention centers' throughout Eastern Europe. Violations of the War Crimes Act that result in the death of a detainee carry the death penalty and there is no statute of limitations.

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"Much as I'd like to see him on Death Row there's a better option. Send him to the Hague with Dick "The Torturer's Apprentice" Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, Mukassey, Yoo and the rest of that evil crew. Let the world know exactly what they did. We can watch them rot in jail, not martyrs, just disgraced criminals."

Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Burnt Toast

If there's something every Sith Lord knows how to do it's make a balanced breakfast. While the Jedi have to live off of Jawa juice and fried nerfsteak, the Dark Lord of the Sith prefers to have a reminder of his fiery Mustafar defeat at his breakfast table. Every morning he burns that moment into a slice of bread with the Darth Vader Toaster. This black, ominous kitchen appliance easily leaves the mark of Vader's helmet in every yummy piece of toast. Slather some Bantha butter on top, or make two pieces for an extra-Sithy BLT. Force power not required to operate toaster.

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"Turn the knob ... to the Dark side..."

Muslim clerics endorse anti-terror fatwa

HYDERABAD, India, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- About 6,000 Muslim clerics from around India approved a fatwa against terrorism Saturday at a conference in Hyderabad.
Maulana Qari Mohammad Usman Mansoorpuri, president of the Jamaiat-Ulama-i-Hind, called terrorism the most serious problem facing Islam, The Hindu reported. He blamed Islamic radicals for their actions and the news media for failing to distinguish between the radicals and the majority of Muslims.

"We have no love for offenders whichever religion they might belong to," he said. "Our concern is that innocents should not be targeted and the career of educated youth not ruined. The government should ensure transparency in investigation."

India has the world's second-largest Muslim population after Indonesia, although Hindus outnumber Muslims. The meeting was also expected to address issues like national integration.

"Islam rejects all kinds of unjust violence, breach of peace, bloodshed, murder and plunder and does not allow it in any form. Cooperation should be done for the cause of good but not for committing sin or oppression," the fatwa written at the Darul Uloom Deoband, India's foremost Islamic seminary.

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389 Years Ago....

(Click to enlarge)

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"Star Wars" - an a capella tribute to John Williams

"You do have the Force. Awesome work."

Official Trailer

Beach Boys co-founder not ruling out reunion

By Wayne Bledsoe

The Beach Boys have always been that dysfunctional family that creates something special whenever together. The three surviving members of the original group, Mike Love, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine, haven't worked together in years. However, Love has some hope that they will again.

"I've been speaking with Al about doing some stuff together," says Love, calling on his cell phone while taking a break from shopping at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn.

Love says he has 18 new songs recorded, and he knows that A1 has several new songs.

"Maybe we'll ask Brian to get involved," says Love.

It is Love, along with longtime member Bruce Johnston, who has kept the Beach Boys going as a group. The band formed in 1961 when Love and his cousins Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, along with friend Jardine, began performing in Hawthorne, Calif. With the Wilsons' father, Murry, as a manager, the group became one of the biggest pop acts in the world.

While the group's image was "Fun, Fun, Fun," "California Girls" and "Good Vibrations," behind the scenes, the group was perpetually in turmoil.

Some issues, including Love getting credit for co-writing many of the group's hits ("Good Vibrations," "Surfin' Safari," "California Girls" and "I Get Around," among them), weren't resolved until the 1990s.

"My uncle and cousin sort of conspired to disenfranchise me," says Love. "It was unfair of them to do that, but Brian was kind of mentally unbalanced, so I don't blame him."

Brian Wilson has been plagued by mental problems since the mid-1960s, suffering from panic attacks, nervous breakdowns and long periods of depression. Love's good words for the late Wilson patriarch Murry, though, are limited.

"He was a salesperson," says Love. "He was great at promoting and marketing the Beach Boys."

Love says that Brian Wilson had wanted to rectify the writing credit, but, because his financial affairs were under the direction of a conservator, the cousins were forced to go to court:

"Brian testified, and he was saying, 'Yeah, Mike wrote that.' I don't have any animosity toward Brian at all. I just have mostly compassion for him."

The Beach Boys reached an artistic peak in 1966 with the album "Pet Sounds" and the single "Good Vibrations." However, a planned follow-up, "Smile," aimed to be the group's most ambitious album, was aborted and the group slipped into an artistic decline for many years thereafter. The band returned to the top of the pop charts in 1988 with the song "Kokomo."

Brian Wilson has dropped in and out of the group several times over the years. Dennis Wilson died in an accident in 1983, and Carl Wilson died of lung cancer in 1998. However, the group has never stopped touring. Jardine stopped touring with the band in the late 1990s and was sued by the group for having the Beach Boys name on his own tour (the original members collectively own the name through their Brother Records).

The current touring group includes Christian Love (Mike's son), John Cowsill (from 1960s family band the Cowsills), Randell Kirsch and Scott Totten. The group members share vocals on the songs on which Brian and Carl originally sang lead and throw in some special treats for longtime fans.

"We like to throw in some more esoteric songs now," says Love.

The group regularly performs non-hits "The Ballad of Old Betsy," "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring" and "Don't Back Down" in addition to group's best-known songs.

"If we're at a state fair, we won't do the more subtle songs, but if we're in a decent theater with good acoustics, we will," says Love. "That's kind of what we have to do to keep it fresh for us."

Brian Wilson records and tours with his own backing group. He completed "Smile" without the Beach Boys in 2004. Love says he wasn't hurt by Wilson completing the project without him, but he wished Wilson had done the project with the Beach Boys. He also says he did not dislike the original "Smile" project, he just disliked that it was influenced by drug use.

He doesn't expect Wilson to rejoin the Beach Boys on a tour, but he never discounts working with his cousin again.

"Brian is on a solo path pretty much masterminded by his wife," says Love. "But if Brian and I are alone together with a piano, nature just takes over."

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Canada says BPA toxic, to ban baby bottles with it

Canada declared a chemical widely used in food packaging a toxic substance on Saturday and will now move to ban plastic baby bottles containing bisphenol A.

The toxic classification, issued in the Canada Gazette, makes Canada the first country to classify the chemical commonly used in the lining of food cans, eyeglass lenses and hundreds of household items, as risky.

"Many Canadians...have expressed their concern to me about the risks of bisphenol A in baby bottles," Environment Minister John Baird said in a statement. "Today's confirmation of our ban on BPA in baby bottles proves that our government did the right thing in taking action to protect the health and environment for all Canadians."

Canada's announcement came six months after its health ministry labeled BPA as dangerous. Health Minister Tony Clement said a report on bisphenol A has found the chemical endangers people, particularly newborns and infants, and the environment, citing concerns that the chemical in polycarbonate products and epoxy linings can migrate into food and beverages.

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Australia’s Tasmanian Devil Could Be Extinct Within a Decade

The small marsupials chronically suffer from the fatal Facial Tumor Disease, and without a vaccine for the cancer, scientists fear the species could be wiped out in less than 10 years.

The last hope for the species lies in the 500 breeding adult devils currently living in 18 different wildlife parks and zoos. The Taronga Zoo and Conservation Society released a plea to the public today for funding to research the disease. They hope to raise at least $250,000 to expedite the development of the vaccine.


The healthy devils in captivity are being held in quarantine in order to prevent the spread of the cancer. Taronga Zoo alone already holds 115 devils, but spokesman Mark Williams said they need to breed more.

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"In other news, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are planning a HUGE party in 10 years..."

Terry Tate : You Better Vote!

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Terry Tate: From Russia With Love

Terry Tate: Reading Is Fundamental

Our Vanishing Night

For most of human history, the phrase “light pollution" would have made no sense. Now most of humanity lives under intersecting domes of reflected, refracted light.

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Switzerland Places Ban on the Humiliation of Plants

A law protecting the dignity of plants? Laugh if you will. I’m down on my knees in respect and awe. At last the Western World is realizing the dire importance of taking other species into account.

Recently, the Swiss Parliament asked a panel of philosophers, lawyers, geneticists and theologians to determine the meaning of dignity when it pertains to plants.

Lo and Behold, the team published a treatise on “the moral consideration of plants for their own sake.” The treatise established that vegetation has innate value and that it is morally wrong to partake in activities such as the “decapitation of wildflowers at the roadside without rational reason.”

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Original 'Gladiator's' Tomb Unearthed in Rome

Italian archaeologists have discovered the tomb of the ancient Roman hero believed to have inspired Russell Crowe's character in the hit movie "Gladiator," Rome's officials announced on Thursday at a press conference.
Marble beams and columns, carvings and friezes first emerged from the Roman soil during construction work to build a residential complex in Saxa Rubra, not far from the headquarters of Rai, Italy's state-run television station.

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Expedition set for 'ghost peaks'

It is perhaps the last great Antarctic expedition - to find an explanation for why there is a great mountain range buried under the White Continent.
The Gamburtsevs match the Alps in scale but no-one has ever seen them because they are covered by up to 4km of ice.
Geologists struggle to understand how such a massif could have formed and persisted in the middle of Antarctica.
Now, an international team is setting out on a deep-field survey to try to get some answers.
The group comprises scientists, engineers, pilots and support staff from the UK, the US, Germany, Australia, China and Japan.

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Canada's National Do Not Call Registry

If you're getting a lot of unsolicited telemarketer calls (and who isn't?), you'll want to sign up on Canada's National Do Not Call registry. This registry is open for residential, wireless, VoIP numbers and faxes.

Unfortunately, the list does not prevent calls from political parties, registered charities, and business with whom you have an existing business relationship. Still, it's free and easy -- and it will cut down on a lot of unwanted calls.

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John Cleese on Sarah Palin

"I love how he burst out laughing at the beginning ;)))"