Thursday, March 13, 2008

Britney Spears New Video Is Out



Britney Spears's New Video: Cyborgs and Thigh-High Boots

Britney Spears leaves the stresses of her world behind to transform into a futuristic action heroine in the animated "Break the Ice" video that debuted Wednesday online.

"It's been a while. I know I shouldn't have kept you waiting. But I'm here now," sings Spears, 26, in the video as her animated character dons a short black body suit and knee high boots to take on cyborg-like attackers. (Britney fan site breatheheavy.com is currently featuring the clip.)

Just as she seems to be surrounded, Spears's character sets off a bomb and jumps out of a high-rise building, with the words "To be continued..." leaving viewers wondering what happens to Spears's character.

After viewing the video, fans could chat live with others about the clip in a "cyber party".

Earlier, her label Jive Records announced the posting of the clip directed by Robert Hales, of Gnarls Barkley "Crazy" video fame.

Source: People.com
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Pi Day Is March 14



March 14 Is Pi Day!
14 Fun Math and Geometry Activities to Celebrate the Most Useful Irrational Number

Every year on March 14 math lovers around the country celebrate pi, the irrational number commonly abbreviated to 3.14. Some enthusiasts go so far as to mark Pi Minute, 1:59 PM, taking into account the first six digits of the number: 3.14159.

Start your math festivities with a hands-on activity. With Discovering Pi (PDF), your students can measure cylindrical objects in the classroom and then see for themselves how pi comes up every time.

What Is Pi and How Do We Use It?

Pi is the number you get when you divide the circumference of a circle (the distance around the circle) by its diameter (the distance across). In other words, the circumference of any circle is approximately 3.14 times its diameter. Because pi is an irrational number, it has an infinite number of digits. No matter how many decimal places we calculate, pi will always be an approximation.

Because pi is the same for every circle, we can use it to determine the diameter if we know the circumference, or vice versa. When we know the diameter, it’s easy to calculate the area.

Show your students exactly how a circle’s diameter, its circumference, and pi are related with this short animated sequence.

Then play The Story of Pi, a computer animated video from Project MATHEMATICS! that uses dynamic illustrations and straightforward narration to explain exactly what pi is and why it’s important.

The History of Pi

People have been searching for pi for thousands of years — at least since the ancient Babylonians discovered it 4,000 years ago. To find out how mathematicians have puzzled over this problem, read “A Brief History of Pi.”

Since pi goes on forever, even the most powerful supercomputers can never know all of pi’s numbers. That doesn’t stop people from trying, however. In 2002, a team of mathematicians at the University of Tokyo broke the record, using computers to calculate pi to 1,241,100,000,000 decimal places. You can see the first million here.

http://3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.com/index2.html

Fun With Pi

Pi’s very length suggests creative math fun. On this site, your students can assign a musical note to each number — and then play their own version of pi!

You can also have your students search pi’s digits for their birthdays or other number combinations using the Pi Search Results Tool .

More Activities With Circles and Pi(es)

Pi Day provides the perfect excuse for incorporating math and geometry into all aspects of the school day. Celebrate circles, math, and pi’s yummiest homophone with these hands-on activities!

For PreK–1

Fun With Balls & Hoops – Introduce the concept of circumference and other math and science topics using this Early Childhood Today physical development activity.

Making a Pizza Pie – Develop students' math, science, and literacy skills by learning how to prepare a pizza in this ready-to-use lesson for mixed ages.

For Grades 2 and Up

ircles Are Awesome – Learn how almost any three points on a plane create a circle and then make your own kaleidoscopic art with nested circles.

We Love Math! – Pose challenging questions to involve students in using multiple skills to solve math problems. This Instructor Magazine article discusses open-ended questions as well as picture book, group, and everyday math.

Peering Into Pie Charts Lesson Plan Grades 4–6 – Understand how to use and critically read pie charts.

Interpreting Pie Charts Lesson Plan Grades 6–8 – Use pie charts in this real world math activity, in which students discuss rising gas prices and see how they affect a vacation budget.

And don’t forget that Pi Day is also Albert Einstein’s birthday. Visit the American Museum of Natural History’s kids’ page, Way to Go, Einstein!, to learn about the famed mathematician and physicist and to explore space and light.

Source: Scholastic.com
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Emperor's Club v.I.P. Call Girl



Kristen: Ashley Alexandra Dupre, Spitzer's Emperors Club VIP Call Girl

We have now found Kristen and she has been identified as Ashley Alexandra Dupre. This is reportedly the young lady that is at the center of the scandal that took down New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. There are photos now circulating of the very attractive brunette and she is out of hiding. If Eliot Spitzer is indeed Client Number nine this may be the girl in question from the Emperors Club VIP website that so many are now searching for.

The New York Post has revealed that this bikini-clad mode is an aspiring musician and according to the report that they have on Page Six she is twenty-two years old and from the looks of this photo she is certainly gorgeous.

She is working in New York and she wants to get contacts in the music biz and apparently didn't want to go the usual American idol route. One would think Eliot Spitzer could have helped her out a bit and hooked her up with some of the higher ups in the business in Gotham. She aspires to be a pop singer and has a song jamming right now on her MySpace Page.

She says that she is not a monster and she wound up in the city after fleeing what she says was an abusive home. She has made it now and her fifteen minutes have arrived. Will she strip for a pictorial, hang on to those musical dreams or perhaps both?

Source: Susan Hatch, The National Ledger
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Spitzer's Hooker - A Five Foot Five, 105 Pound Brunette


Eliot Spitzer resigns over sex scandal

ELIOT Spitzer who rose to power proclaiming the need for ethics and integrity in public life and who harbored an ambition to be America's first Jewish president has quit as New York Governor over the scandal surrounding his use of prostitutes.

The resignation of the former Wall Street crime fighter came 48 tumultuous hours after reports that federal investigators had Mr Spitzer on a phone tap arranging a rendezvous with a $US1000-an-hour hooker named Kristen at a luxury Washington DC hotel on the evening of February 13.

It has since emerged that Mr Spitzer was a regular client of the prostitution ring, known as Emperors Club VIP, and may have spent as much as $US80,000 there over the last eight months.

Mr Spitzer has been identified as “Client 9” in a federal affidavit outlining the case against four Emperors Club principals.

With his tragically forlorn wife Silda at his side sharing the public humiliation, Mr Spitzer read a prepared statement to a packed press conference in New York, saying he had failed to meet the standards expected by his family and the community.

“I have been given much: the love of my family, the faith and trust of the people of New York, and the chance to lead this state,” Mr Spitzer said.

“I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me. To every New Yorker, and to all those who believed in what I tried to stand for, I sincerely apologise.

“I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people’s work. Over the course of my public life, I have insisted, I believe correctly, that people, regardless of their position or power, take responsibility for their conduct.

“I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor.”

The resignation is effective from next Monday when Lieutenant Governor David Paterson will be sworn in.

Mr Paterson will be the first blind man to lead a US state. He will also be New York’s first African American governor.

Speculation that Mr Spitzer’s resignation was part of a plea bargain deal with prosecutors was dismissed when the US Attorney’s Office put out a statement saying no deal had been discussed.

“There is no agreement between this office and Governor Eliot Spitzer, relating to his resignation or any other matter,” US Attorney Michael Garcia said.

Mr Spitzer’s resignation followed two days of angry calls for him to step aside and threats by Republican leaders of impeachment proceedings if he didn’t.

Ironically, Mr Spitzer seems to have been caught out by changes to banking regulations that he helped implement that were aimed at increasing the surveillance of suspicious money transfers in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Mr Spitzer came under notice when the North Fork bank noticed frequent cash transfers from several accounts into a shell company linked to the prostitution ring.

A suspicious activity report was filed with the Internal Revenue Service and wiretaps were initiated.

Mr Spitzer was caught red-handed negotiating for the services of Kristen, described as an attractive five-foot-five, 105-pound brunette.

Mr Spitzer is yet to be charged but he appears to be in breach of the Mann Act which makes transportation of someone across a state line for the purposes of prostitution a federal crime.

The act is rarely used to prosecute the clients of prostitutes, known in US slang as “johns”. However notable exceptions include silent film era actor-comedian Charlie Chaplin and mass murderer Charles Manson.

Mr Spitzer may also face federal charges of structuring, a financial offence that makes it illegal to break up a sum of money into smaller amounts in an effort to disguise where it is sent.

A key man in deciding whether charges are filed is US Attorney Jeffrey Taylor, the head prosecutor for federal and local law in the District of Columbia.

Mr Spitzer was elected governor 18 months ago in a landslide where he won 70 per cent of the vote.

Prior to that Mr Spitzer was New York’s corruption-busting Attorney General, waging war on behalf of small investors against the shady practices of some of Wall Street’s biggest firms.

It earned him several nicknames including ‘Sheriff of Wall Street’ and the ‘Eliot Ness of the 21st century’.

But Mr Spitzer said his remorse “will always be with me”.

“I look at my time as governor with a sense of what might have been,” he said.

“I go forward with the belief, as others have said, that as human beings, our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

“As I leave public life, I will first do what I need to do to help and heal myself and my family.

“Then I will try once again, outside of politics, to serve the common good and to move toward the ideals and solutions which I believe can build a future of hope and opportunity for us and for our children.”

Source: David Nason, New York correspondent of The Australian Business
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Salvia - The New Recreational Drug



Salvia Divinorum Creates Catch-22

The Diviner's Sage Burned By Its Own Popularity

It goes by many names: Salvia divinorum, Diviner's Sage, Maria Pastora and Sally-D. But, whatever you call it, this hallucinogenic herb from the mint family, used by Mexico's Mazatec Indians for centuries, is fast becoming a "drug of concern" for the Drug Enforcement Administration and many states across the country - which may actually serve to make the drug more popular.

"A lot of kids think because it's not illegal it makes it alright," DEA salvia expert Rogene Waite says, but "nothing could be further from the truth." She told me the drug can cause "dizziness, tremors, cardiovascular collapse," along with psychological side effects, such as "suicidal and homicidal tendencies."

While no deaths resulting from toxicity have been confirmed, salvia was implicated in a Delaware teen's suicide a couple years ago, and DEA spokesperson Steve Robertson told me his agency "gets calls all the time" from concerned parents.

Perhaps in response to those concerns, eight states have already placed restrictions on salvia, and several others are considering a ban, according to the Associated Press. Yesterday, Florida state Rep. Mary Brandenburg introduced a bill that would classify salvia and its extract as a controlled substance with no approved use, like marijuana. Possession would be considered a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

But some think this approach is counter-intuitive. Rick Doblin of the nonprofit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies says that the publicity will likely increase use of the drug. Since Nebraska introduced a bill to ban Salvia by this summer, sales of the drug have reportedly been booming. Whether that's because of government fear mongering or internet availability or both, it's hard to say. But this won't be the last Salvia article you read.

Source: The Washington Post Company
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