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theatlantic:

Corporate Profits Are Eating the Economy

Here are two things that are true about the economy today.

(1) The Dow Jones industrial average is poised to set a new record as corporate profits stretch to all-time highs. 

(2) There are still fewer working Americans today than there were before the start of the Great Recession. 

The fact that these two things can be true at the same time might outrage you. But it shouldn’t surprise you. 

Read more. [Bottom Image: FRED]

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c86:

Relocation of the Abu Simbel temples was undertaken from 1964 to 1966 and funded by donations from 52 countries

via Retronaut

atomstargazer:

APOD, 2013 January 27 
Comet McNaught Over Chile
Image Credit & Copyright: Stéphane Guisard

Explanation: Comet McNaught of 2007 has been, so far, the most photogenic comet of our time. After making quite a show in the northern hemisphere in early 2007 January, the comet moved south and developed a long and unusual dust tail that dazzled southern hemisphere observers. In this image, Comet McNaught was captured above Santiago, Chile. The bright comet dominates on the left while part of its magnificent tail spreads across the entire frame. From this vantage point in the Andes Mountains, one looks up toward Comet McNaught and a magnificent sky, across at a crescent moon, and down on clouds, atmospheric haze, and the city lights. The current year — 2013 — holds promise to be even better for comets than 2007. In early March, Comet PANSTARRS is on track to become visible to the unaided eye, while at the end of the year Comet ISON shows possibilities that include casting a tail that spreads across the sky, breaking up, and even becoming one of the brightest comets in recorded history.

(via sagansense)

tonyakers:

Abandoned Hospital - Black and White

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collectivehistory:

London readers continue to browse at a bombed-out library, WWII. 

cranquis:

jayparkinsonmd:

We at Sherpaa wanted to write a little something about how Obamacare affects you. It’s exciting news in many, many ways. 

sherpaa:

How will the Affordable Care Act affect you?

The Affordable Care Act, sometimes referred to as Obamacare, was officially passed in 2010, but will not be fully put into place until 2014.  There has been a ton of information about this act that has been made available, but we wanted to provide you with the top 6 elements of the act and how they affect you personally:

Summary of Benefits and Coverage

Health insurance plans are now required to provide you with an easy to understand summary about your specific health plan’s benefits and coverage information.  

Why You Care:  Healthcare can be super confusing.  We’ve all been there…it’s your first day of work, you have mountains of paperwork to fill out, and on top of it all, you need to select an insurance plan right away.  Oh, and they all look pretty darned similar.  With this new requirement, a lot of the confusion will be totally eliminated.

Preventative Care

Certain preventative services are now covered.  These include services such as blood pressure screenings, cholesterol screenings, depression screenings, HIV screenings for high risk adults, diet consultations for at risk adults, certain STD screenings for at risk adults, folic acid supplements for women who are pregnant, and mammograms for women over 40.

Why You Care:  Prevention is, very often, the best medicine.  It’s great to be able to take advantage of important preventative care and services that were previously super expensive or difficult to access.

Pre-Existing conditions

Health insurance companies can no longer deny healthcare coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.  

Why You Care:  People who want to purchase health insurance, either on their own or through their employer, should be able to afford to do so.  

Appealing Health Plan Decisions

Consumers now have the right to appeal health insurance plan decisions, particularly when a claim has been denied.  You will also now have the right to information from your insurance carrier such as the reason your claim was denied.

Why You Care:  Power to the people!  You will now have the opportunity to take more control of your health, and no longer be entirely at the mercy of the insurance companies.

Patients Bill of Rights

These include allowing young people under the age of 26 to remain on their parent’s insurance plan, eliminating the lifetime limits on coverage, eliminating arbitrary cancellation of coverage due to honest mistakes, forcing insurance companies to justify any truly egregious premium increases year over year,  and eliminates insurance company barriers to emergency care.

Why You Care:  Power to the people again!  A clear set of rights for consumers and expectations from insurance companies is a truly great thing.

Tax Credits for Small Employers 

Small businesses (fewer than 25 employees) and non profits will receive some tax credits (up to 50%) for purchasing insurance for their employees.

Why You Care:  Health insurance is expensive.  Any little bit of help is great for businesses as they continue to grow.

Birth Control

The Affordable Care Act allows for many types of birth control to be covered without co pays or deductibles.  Depending on the type of health insurance plan you have, this benefit either has already kicked in, or will be kicking in by 2014.   It should be noted that this is not for every type of birth control on the market.  Health plans are allowed to limit free coverage to some generic drugs/devices. To find out if your specific birth control is covered, go to your health insurance company’s website or call the member services 800 number located on the back of your insurance card.

Why You Care:  Birth control can be super expensive.  In some cases, this can mean more than $800 back in your pocket!

Mental Health

The Affordable Care Act now requires that mental health services be part of the “essential benefits package” that must be covered by certain plans.  This is great news for people who depend on these services.

Why You Care: This is a great benefit for people who require mental health care.  It should be noted, however, that many mental health professionals do not take insurance of any type.  This means that there may still be costs relating to this type of care.

(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)

lesbianlegbreaker:

dyslexic-kids:

10 Sites To Download Free Audio Books

If you’re looking for a place to download some free audio books, you’re in luck. Whether you want to get inspired, scared by a mystery, or simply have something to listen to on a long drive, there are loads of places to find free audio books. They may not be on the New York Times Bestseller list but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth your time.

For example, Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’ is not quite selling like the ‘Shades of Gray’ but it’s an important read. In any case, these sites all host free audio books that are worth checking out!

NOTE: These are all legal sites that host public domain books. There’s more than enough great stuff in these libraries so check them each out when you have the time!

Free Classic Audio Books

This site hosts a myriad of books that are all in mp3 or m4b format. You can find what you’re looking for by sorting by the author’s last name. The advantage of using the iPod format (m4b) is that it remembers where you stop in a file.

Project Gutenberg

Another source for the classics. Read timeless tales from Dickens, Poe, and more with Project Gutenberg’s massive inventory. Boasting more than 2,000 free audiobooks in basically all categories, this should be one of your bookmarked sites!

Books Should Be Free

Like the aforementioned ‘Art of War,’ many all-time bestsellers are available on Books Should Be Free. They’re from the public domain and you can find what you’re looking for through some handy sorting tools. Want a children’s book? How about just seeing the adult book results? Yep, you can do that.

Librophile

When you first go to this site, you’re shown the price of every book. That price is $0.00, possibly the best price ever. Librophile has a substantial library of audio books as well as e-books that you can search by keyword, language, price (free), and more.

Lit2Go

Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format. An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages. Many of the passages also have a related reading strategy identified. Each reading passage can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or as supplemental reading material for your classroom.

LibriVox

LibriVox provides free audiobooks from the public domain. There are several options for listening. LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Our goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books.

LearnOutLoud Free Audio

LearnOutLoud.com has scoured the Internet to bring you over 5000 free audio and video titles. This directory features free audio books, lectures, speeches, sermons, interviews, and many other great free audio and video resources. Most audio titles can be downloaded in digital formats such as MP3 and most video titles are available to stream online. Enjoy!

Podiobooks

The term podiobook was coined by Evo Terra in April 2005 to describe serialized audiobooks which are distributed via RSS, much like a podcast. Podiobooks is supported by donations (if you use it, you should think about giving!) and boasts a solid set of sorting tools. You can browse popular books, award-winning books, all titles, etc. Lots of great novels in here!

Storynory

Beautifully read audio stories for children and adults. Listen online or via podcast or app. Fairytales, myths, legends and stories from around the world.

AudioCloset

The audiobooks are absolutely free. They have a solid set of books that are worth reading such as Kipling and Dickens. All audiobooks have been recorded especially for the AudioCloset website.

Audiobooks kept me going while working the night shift. I definitely recommend it.

Additionally, not everyone has the easiest time with reading (this post originally comes from Dyslexic Kids), so signal boosts would be awesome.

(via truth-has-a-liberal-bias)

chazkeats:

astickfigureillustration:

unsolnosilumina:

Holi, the Hindu festival of colour. (x)

This has to be the most beautiful celebration on the planet.

#yay #pictures of the ACTUAL FESTIVAL instead of pictures of a bunch of white kids acting like it’s an extension of warped tour

(via samaralex)

archaeology:

The oldest known representation of a pharaoh has been found carved on rocks at a desert site in southern Egypt, according to new research into long forgotten engravings.

Found on vertical rocks at Nag el-Hamdulab, four miles north of the Aswan Dam, the images depict a pharaoh riding boats with attendant prisoners and animals in what is thought to be a tax-collecting tour.

“We don’t know with certainty who the king represented at Hamdulab is. We can guess on paleographic and iconographic grounds,” Maria Carmela Gatto, associate research scholar in Egyptology at Yale University and co-director of  thee Aswan-Kom Ombo archaeological project in Egypt, told Discovery News.

Indeed, the style of the carvings suggests that the images were made at a late Dynasty date, around 3200-3100 B.C. This would have been the reign of Narmer, the first king to unify northern and southern Egypt, thus regarded by many scholars as Egypt’s founding pharaoh.

More here.