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Image description: A female panther moves one of her three kittens to a new den at the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge in Naples, Florida. This image, taken with an automatic trail camera, could be the first photo ever taken of a panther moving kittens between den sites.

Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Hrm.

Meanwhile in New York, the Cosmos make $400m plans

It’s no secret that the revamped New York Cosmos are hoping to make a splash as they return to professional soccer in the North American Soccer League (NASL) this August. It’s no secret that Major League Soccer wants its 20th team to be in Queens.

Today, the Cosmos launched a microsite with full details about their plan to privately fund a new 25k seat stadium in Belmont Park, almost on the border of Queens and Long Island. The proposed stadium hoping to open in 2016 is designed by Populous, the firm behind projects like the Emirates, Wembley, and the London 2012 Olympic Stadium. Questions are being raised as to whether or not the New York City area could even support 3 clubs, but before we get to 3 we need to get to 2. A fair share of drama lies ahead between the Cosmos and MLS, as does plenty of entertainment, but it’s reasonable to say that this could be an extravagant, exciting leap forward.

We’re only scratching the surface, so for more information here’s…

The official release about the proposal from the Cosmos site.

Cosmos COO Erik Stover talking about the announcement

Grant Wahl on the Cosmos plan, which is separate from MLS plans

What’s your reaction? Full support, skepticism, or thinking this is general step forward for the sport in the States?

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Best Albums of 2012 In No Particular Order or Numerical Denomination.

A lot of you have asked me what my favorite albums from last year was and after careful consideration in no particular order are:

Lower Dens "Nootropics"

Bat For lashes "The Haunted Man"

Father John Misty "Fear Fun"

Divine Fits "A Thing Called Divine Fits"

Animal Collective "Centipede Hz"

Grizzly Bear "Shields"

Here We Go Magic "A Different Ship"  

Honorable mention to The Shoes "Crack My Bones" even though it came out in 2011 in Europe.

There's a few more too from mainstays like Cat Power, GBV, Spiritualized and Soundgarden I really dug. 

Two I didn't get to really listen to enough were Jack White and AC Newman's which I will try to sooner than later to get a fair assessment. They will probably be on that list anyway.

There it is. All of those get my stamp pf approval.

Holy shit first time I've used this thing in a loooong time. I should remedy that.

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Shake your tail feather. 

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This.

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Word.

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Happiness is a warm gun indeed.

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The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has looked at tomorrow’s “Internet blackout” in opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)—and it sees only a “gimmick,” a “stunt,” “hyperbole,” “a dangerous and troubling development,” an “irresponsible response,” and an “abuse of power.”

“Wikipedia, reddit, and others are going dark to protest the legislation, while sites like Scribd and Google will also protest. In response, MPAA chief Chris Dodd wheeled out the big guns and started firing the rhetoric machine-gun style. 

“Only days after the White House and chief sponsors of the legislation responded to the major concern expressed by opponents and then called for all parties to work cooperatively together, some technology business interests are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns, rather than coming to the table to find solutions to a problem that all now seem to agree is very real and damaging.”

Can I interrupt for a moment? Thanks. When you complain that opponents didn’t “come to the table to find solutions”, do you mean that we didn’t give NINETY-FOUR MILLION DOLLARS to congress like the MPAA? Or do you mean that we didn’t come to the one hearing that Lamar Smith held, where opponents of SOPA were refused an opportunity to comment? Help me out, here, Chris Dodd, because I’m really trying hard to understand you.

“It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services. It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today. It’s a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests.”

Oh ha ha. Ho. Ho. The MPAA talking about “skewing the facts to incite” anyone is just too much. 

“A so-called “blackout” is yet another gimmick, albeit a dangerous one, designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals.”

Except for the part where this is completely false, it’s a valid point.

“It is our hope that the White House and the Congress will call on those who intend to stage this “blackout” to stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy.”

Riiiiiiight. Protesting to raise awareness of terrible legislation that will destroy the free and open Internet  is an abuse of power, but buying NINETY-FOUR MILLION DOLLARS worth of congressional votes is just fine.

I’m so disappointed in Chris Dodd. He was a pretty good senator, wrote some bills (like Dodd/Frank) that are genuinely helping people, and is going to be on the wrong side of every argument as head of the MPAA. What a wasted legacy.

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I sometimes hear a word and immediately a song pops into my head. It can be a good or bad thing. 

Anyway Maria said "Theese days" and of course this song which I love came into my head. I really never understood  how Powderfinger never made it big over here.

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One of my top 3 and probably one of their most underrated.

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Too bad "entitlement" programs aren't considered the military budget, huh?

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As long as Obama remains silent — and implicitly complacent — about the police brutality we keep seeing against peaceful, non-violent Americans who are expressing their constitutionally-protected rights to protest, I think we’re going to see this quote with a lot of pretty horrifying images.

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filigrees:

tornbread:

“No Widows” - The Antlers, on Burst Apart.

When they shake, say the wings won’t break.

this is so damn good. i’m glad i stopped being a sour stubborn bitch and listened to this song my friend dave told me i’d like. i wish everyday sounded like this. 

This made me smile. This is going to be a great day.

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So awesome...

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"Forever conditioned to believe that we can't live We can't live here and be happy with less So many riches, so many souls Everything we see we want to possess..."

Gordon "Mutherfuckin' Sting" Sumner

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inothernews:

thedisgruntledgradstudent:

timekiller-s:

everqueer:

Dear 53%ers:

Congratulations on all your success. I mean that. But all this “the gov’t never helped me” stuff? Yeah, about that:

- That no-frills State U. education you paid yourself through was so cheap because it was subsidized with tax dollars. The scholarship you earned, same deal.

- The road you drive on to work didn’t magically appear there. It was a gov’t project.

- You’ve likely never been hospitalized for food poisoning. Federal food inspectors do good work.

- Your business has been able to flourish in part thanks to protection from police and fire departments … UNION WORKERS and gov’t employees all.

- The Internet is a wonderful thing that makes wide dissemination of your ideas quick and easy, isn’t it? Yep, another innovation of the bloated, incompetent federal government.

- At this very moment you are paying my salary to defend your right to your poorly-formed opinion and to be callous toward your fellow man. You’re welcome, jerks.

Sincerely,

An American soldier in Afghanistan

This is beautiful.

I do not understand why these concepts are so hard to grasp for some people.

Two words: “Willful blindness.”

As Mike would say: GAME OVER.

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Classic.