The colors, smells and sights of fall are one of the primary things that adds to the Halloween magic. October 31 just wouldn't be the same without it!
In between your last minute costume tweaks, watching scary movies, baking pumpkin seeds and buying bulk-size bags of candy for trick-or-treaters, take a moment to enjoy these simply spectacular videos of some of the country's best fall landscapes.
Her worldwide tour for new album Circus may be over, but Britney Spears isn't taking any breaks just yet. The pop princess has just released the music video for her new single 3. Check it out below.
Following through with a measure that was begun by Congress and President Bush last year, President Obama is lifting the ban on travel into the US for those living with HIV/AIDS. The administration will publish the final rule on Monday that lifts the band that has been in effect for 22 years.
The President said of the decision:
"A couple of years ago Michelle and I were in Africa and we tried to combat the stigma when we were in Kenya by taking a public HIV/AIDS test. And I'm proud to announce today we're about to take another step towards ending that stigma.
Twenty-two years ago, in a decision rooted in fear rather than fact, the United States instituted a travel ban on entry into the country for people living with HIV/AIDS. Now, we talk about reducing the stigma of this disease -- yet we've treated a visitor living with it as a threat. We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic -- yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country.If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it."
The ruling will allow families living with HIV/AIDS to stay together and will encourage people who have come in contact with the disease to get tested and get treatment.
This is a monumental step forward in treating those who suffer from HIV/AIDS not as individuals who should be quarantined, but as valuable members of society who deserve to be treated as equals.
We've seen some pretty ridiculous mug shots in our day, but never have we seen something quite as funny, yet sad, as these two Iowa guys who were arrested for burglary this week. The men, 23 and 20 years old, attempted to break into a neighbor's home after having a bit too much to drink. In their intoxicated state, they thought wearing hooded sweatshirts and smearing permanent marker all over their faces would be a sufficient disguise.
Media sources and bloggers have been having a field day with Even the police officers in Carroll, Iowa had a few laughs at their expense.
"We're very skilled investigators and the black faces gave them right away," Police Chief Cayler said jokingly. "I have to assume the officers were kind of laughing at the time. I've never heard of coloring your face with a permanent marker."
Investigators believe the young men attempted the robbery because one of their girlfriends was having a relationship with the man who lived in the house. We're sure the presence of alcohol didn't help them think clearly, either.
"I've been chief here almost 25 years, been with the department 28½ years and I've seen a lot of things that make me laugh and weird things but this was probably the best combination of the two -- strangely weird and hilariously funny all at the same time."
Legendary actress Bea Arthur left behind more than just good memories and Golden Girls re-runs to remember her by. The late actress, who passed away this past April, also left $300,000 for gay youth.
The donation to New York's Ali Forney Center, an organization that supports homeless LGBT, was accounted for in her will. The center's Executive Director Carl Siciliano was aware of her support and that something would be left behind, but he had no idea just how great of a sum it would be.
The center assists more than 1,000 people each year, providing shelter for runaways who left home for a safer environment to be who they are. The organization had been struggling financially for months and has come very close to having to shut down a number of times.
"The last year and a half, since the economic crisis started, it's been really hard to keep this program going," Siciliano said. "A lot of the foundation and corporate money that we used to get has dried up, and we've been growing. Every day, we have about 125 kids a night waiting to get into our housing."
Upon receiving the $300,000 check via FedEx on Tuesday, Siciliano said he began to cry. This money came at just the right time.
"For months, I've been really sweating to make each payroll, and we're usually a month or two behind on our rent, and there have been times when I was afraid that I wasn't going to hold it together," he said. "That kind of terror of [trying to] keep this thing going has come to an end for now with this extraordinary generosity."
Arthur had begun working with the center back in 2005 when she agreed to do a benefit for the organization at the request of a former set designer. Back then, the center was still very small, a grassroots organization that was only able to shelter 12 kids at a time.
The benefit opened Arthur's eyes to the fact that thousands of gay kids were living on the street, and prompted her to get more involved. She performed broadway shows and fundraisers to raise tens of thousands of dollars for the center.
Later in the year, Arthur spoke of her work with the center and helping homeless LGBT youth in Next magazine:
"I'm very, very involved in charities involving youth," Arthur said in the interview. "These kids at the Ali Forney Center are literally dumped by their families because of the fact that they are lesbian, gay or transgender -- this organization really is saving lives."
The generous $300,000 donation from Arthur will go towards helping more youth, Siciliano plans to use the money to buy another residence that can house 12. He plans on naming it after Arthur.
"To have her choose to shine that kind of light on us was remarkable," Siciliano said. "She became an advocate for the issue; she said she would do anything that she could to help these kids."
The following is a blog by Hayden Panettiere of The Whaleman Foundation/Save the Whales Again! Campaign.
I’m writing this with a heavy heart. I just learned that today in Taiji, a pod of 50 pilot whales were slaughtered, exactly 2 years to the day that I personally witnessed the brutal slaughter of a pod of 50 pilot whales including mothers and their newborn babies… and the images and horrible memories of that day are now flooding back into my mind like some sadistic nightmare version of Groundhog Day.
I received the sad news from Leslie-Ann Gervais who had traveled to Taiji by herself and witnessed the carnage earlier today. I can’t tell you how dangerous it is to go to the cove when the fisherman are there and to be there alone, I can’t even fathom that. Here is what she witnessed:
“Last evening I was walking past the Whale Museum… when I passed a man sleeping in a car facing the cliff of the lookout point towards the cove. Immediately it gave me a bad feeling....then I turned the corner of the cove and discovered a pod of Pilot Whales trapped in the nets...with two men guarding the area.
I decided to walk up the cliff to get a better look at the situation. There was now a bus driver parked taking a smoking break-so i would scream loud enough for him to hopefully hear me if anyone was up there waiting to get hostile. Half way up the stairs I heard the bus pull away. As soon as I got to the top I noticed it had been even more blocked than before. Even the path I found at the end of the fence had been blocked. There must be surveillance cameras up there. I climbed a tree and then stepped on a fence they put up which completely collapsed-oh,oh, the fisherman are going to be mad! I had a feeling the area would be booby trapped- I was right... There is barb wire ankle high tied between trees... My camera is broken and it’s a good thing I don’t have it with me , otherwise the barb wire could slice right through someone if they are walking fast and not looking down which is exactly what I did the last time!
Now I was poking every step before me with a stick...these guys are serious...then I heard a noise, in retrospect it could have been a bird...but whatever it was it terrified me, and I took a quick glimpse out onto the killing cove...guesstimating there are over 50 this time. I even saw a baby!
Even though I have no camera on me I feel I need to be present to show them that eyes are watching....
After a very restless night, I left around 5am to go back to the cove. When I arrived the fisherman had already killed about half the pilot whales and I watched helplessly as they killed the rest including the babies… there are no words to describe how I feel… We have to stop this!!!”
As I said in my last blog, I think the one of the best ways to stop this is by getting this information out to the public at large while educating and getting this information out to the Japanese people is key. Most Japanese citizens do not know about these hunts, that dolphin and whale meat is highly contaminated, and the fact that over 20,000 dolphins and porpoises are being slaughtered every year by Japanese fisherman because the Japanese Government is suppressing this information.
Check out this recent CNN story that shows this firsthand:
And remember, even though Taiji continues to receive the most attention where over 2,000 dolphins are killed each year, nearly 18,000 Dall’s porpoise are slaughtered in the brutal Japanese offshore harpoon hunts every year which unfortunately gets very little attention.
I’m not going to rest until we stop all dolphin and porpoise hunting and end commercial whaling but I can’t do it with out your help, so please organize all your friends, family, and classmates and get them to sign our petition and support The Whaleman Foundation and if you haven’t seen The Cove, go see it!
Eager to get your health in check and start eating a more balanced diet but having a tough time giving up the junk food? Data from a recent study is shedding some light on why so many people have trouble parting from unhealthy food... it is as addictive as heroin!
Cookies, chips, burgers, fries, bacon.... they all taste like heaven. Or at least that's what your brain is telling you, according to research. The more of these high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt foods you eat, the more your brain is programmed to crave more of them. As time goes on, your body becomes dependent on these to make you feel happy and lead to full on addictions.
Neuroscientist Dr Paul Kenny conducted the research about how dangerous these food items can be to our health. “You lose control. It’s the hallmark of addiction,” he said.
Though researchers have linked junk food to happy-hormones for years, this study is one of the first to suggest that brains may react to food the same way they do to drugs.
“This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neuro-biological foundations,” said Paul Johnson, Dr Kenny’s work colleague.
Dr Kenny began his research by dividing lab rats into three groups. The first group received normal amounts of healthy food to eat. The second was given restricted amounts of junk food, and the third was given unlimited amounts of junk that included cheesecake, fatty meat products, cheap sponge cakes and chocolate snacks.
The first two groups had no negative effects, but the rats who had a smorgasbord of goodies quickly became very fat and started binge eating.
Researchers also found that when they electronically stimulated the part of the brain that feels pleasure, the junk food rats required much larger doses to reach the same happy level as those on healthy diets.
This is quite an interesting study. So healthier not only means we can live longer, be less sick and look better, but we'll also be happier. Still want to reach for another doughnut?
As we've said in the past, we read every bit of feedback from our members. All the little changes you ask for, we hear them. And trust us - we're working on implementing them! Today we're happy to announce one feature that we has repeatedly been requested...
CHANGING YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS.
Now, if you so desire, you can edit the e-mail address associated with your SocialVibe account in your Account Settings.
Here are a couple of screenshots that will prove helpful in making this change... please pay close attention to that little red word next to the field that reads "unverified." Your changes will not be active unless you verify your new e-mail address by clicking on the link we send to that e-mail address!
A sad, unverified e-mail address.
A happy, verified e-mail address!
We hope this makes many of you very happy. More changes to come, we promise.
