RandomDesk http://www.randomdesk.com Random Stuff Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 en Cubana Flight 455 Bombed http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/cubana-flight-455-bombed/ http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/cubana-flight-455-bombed/#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000 http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/cubana-flight-455-bombed/ The bombing of Cubana Flight 455 killed all 73 people on board, including several Cuban government officials. At that time, it constituted the most deadly act of airline terrorism ever carried out in the Western Hemisphere. An investigation uncovered evidence implicating anti-Castro Cuban exiles and members of the Venezuelan secret police in the plot. Four men were arrested: two received 20-year prison terms, one was acquitted, and another fled. How were the CIA and FBI linked to the attack?

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Cubana Flight 455 Bombed

]]> http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/cubana-flight-455-bombed/feed/ Louis-Philippe of France http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/louis-philippe-of-france/ http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/louis-philippe-of-france/#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000 http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/louis-philippe-of-france/ Louis-Philippe was the last king to rule France, reigning from 1830 to 1848. During the July Revolution of 1830, he was made lieutenant general of the …

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Louis-Philippe of France

]]> http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/louis-philippe-of-france/feed/ Catharism http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/catharism/ http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/catharism/#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000 http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/catharism/ The Cathars were members of a Christian sect that flourished in France in the 12th and 13th centuries. Because most adherents believed in reincarnation—as opposed to resurrection—as a way of reaching the pure spirit realm, the Roman Catholic Church regarded the sect as heretical and launched the Albigensian Crusade to crush the movement. In one account of a massacre of some 20,000 Cathars, one of the crusade’s commanders is asked how to tell Cathars from Catholics. What was his famous reply?

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Catharism

]]> http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/catharism/feed/ condescension http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/condescension/ http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/condescension/#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000 http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/condescension/ DEFINITION: (noun) A communication that indicates lack of respect by patronizing the recipient.
SYNONYMS: disdain, patronage.
USAGE: Natasha did not like the visitor’s tone of condescension to childish things.

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condescension

]]> http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/condescension/feed/ Diamonds Useful in Cancer Treatment http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/diamonds-useful-in-cancer-treatment/ http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/diamonds-useful-in-cancer-treatment/#comments Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000 http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/diamonds-useful-in-cancer-treatment/ The popular saying “diamonds are a girl’s best friend” took on new meaning this week, when a research team announced the development of a diamond studded drug patch that may one day aid in cancer treatment. The patch, a thin microfilm, is embedded with tiny diamond specks that can release a chemotherapy drug called doxorubicin slowly over a period of time, minimizing patients’ exposure to the treatment’s toxic side effects. The patch will be used to treat a localized region after a tumor has been removed and where residual cancer cells might remain. These fragments of diamond dust known as nanodiamonds are already widely used in …

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Diamonds Useful in Cancer Treatment

]]> http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/diamonds-useful-in-cancer-treatment/feed/ Public Broadcasting on Television http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/public-broadcasting-on-television/ http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/public-broadcasting-on-television/#comments Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000 http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/public-broadcasting-on-television/ Founded in 1969, PBS is a non-profit, private corporation that is owned collectively by its member stations and largely funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), itself funded mainly by federal appropriations. All of the programming carried by PBS, whether news, documentary, or entertainment, is created by, or in most cases produced under contract with, individual member stations. Why did Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, the chair of the CPB board, resign in 2005?

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Public Broadcasting on Television

]]> http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/public-broadcasting-on-television/feed/ Mario Lemieux http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/mario-lemieux/ http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/mario-lemieux/#comments Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000 http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/mario-lemieux/ Lemieux is considered one of the greatest players in National Hockey League history. As center for the Pittsburgh Penguins, he won two Stanley Cup titles and frequently vied with Wayne Gretzky for scoring titles in the 1980s and early 1990s. He is one of only nine players to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame without the mandatory three-year post-retirement waiting period. What are the nicknames given to him by the media?

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Mario Lemieux

]]> http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/mario-lemieux/feed/ Offal http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/offal/ http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/offal/#comments Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000 http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/offal/ Considered either waste material or delicacy, depending on the cultural context, offal is the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. It is prepared and consumed in a myriad of ways throughout the world. In the Philippines, pig intestines are used to make a type of blood sausage called Dinuguan, and in Pakistan, livers, brains, and kidneys are components of Taka-Tak. Scotland’s haggis is a boiled mix of sheep’s liver, heart, and lungs stuffed in what other organ?

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Offal

]]> http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/offal/feed/ excavate http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/excavate/ http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/excavate/#comments Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000 http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/excavate/ DEFINITION: (verb) Remove the inner part or the core of.
SYNONYMS: dig, hollow.
USAGE: The mining company wants to excavate the hillside and build a tunnel.

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excavate

]]> http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/excavate/feed/ Need for Control Linked to Superstition http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/need-for-control-linked-to-superstition/ http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/need-for-control-linked-to-superstition/#comments Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000 http://www.randomdesk.com/2008/10/need-for-control-linked-to-superstition/ When people feel that they lack control over their lives, they are liable to begin finding patterns where they do not exist and develop superstitious beliefs and ritualistic behaviors in an attempt to establish control. In a recent study, test subjects whose sense of control had been undermined by interviewers were more likely to exhibit this sort of pattern-finding behavior. Study participants were shown either a random dot pattern or a dot pattern containing a faint image. While all test subjects identified 95% of the hidden images, those who felt …

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Need for Control Linked to Superstition

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