Funny Political Pictures

Google Search (Chinese Water Torture Cell)

Harry Houdini
When I was bored I went to google like many people do or facebook but in google I saw that the logo was different. I searched the cartoon in the logo and found it was Harry Houdini a famous magician. I don't know much about him so this is what I found. Cool stuff:

Chinese Water Torture Cell
The Chinese Water Torture Cell is a predicament escape made famous by Hungarian-American magician Harry Houdini. The illusion consists of three parts: first, the magician's feet are locked in stocks; next, he is suspended in mid-air from his ankles with a restraint brace; finally, he is lowered into a glass tank overflowing with water and the restraint is locked to the top of the cell.

The original Chinese Water Torture Cell was built in England in 1911. Houdini first performed the escape for an audience of one person as part of a one-act play he called Houdini Upside Down. This was so he could copyright the new escape (having learned with his Milk Can escape that patents failed to stop imitators). The first public performance was at the Circus Busch in Berlin, Germany, on September 21, 1912.[1] In letters Houdini referred to the effect as "the Upside Down" or "USD". Houdini continued to perform the escape until his death in 1926. Despite two Hollywood movies depicting Houdini dying in the Torture Cell, the escape had nothing to do with his demise.[2]

After Houdini's death, the cell was willed to his brother who performed as the escape artist Theodore Hardeen. Hardeen never performed the cell himself, and despite Houdini's instructions for it to be "burnt and destroyed" upon Hardeen's death, his brother gave the cell to Houdini collector Sidney Hollis Radner in the 1940s. The cell remained in the Radner basement until 1971 when it was put on display at The Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Canada. Here the cell suffered from neglect and theft. At one point, the museum owners put a fish tank inside the cell to achieve an aquarium effect. The leaky tank caused mold and damage to the cell wood and structure.

In 1995, the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame burned to the ground. While it was initially reported that the cell was completely destroyed, but the metal frame survived and the cell was restored by illusion builder John Gaughan. In 2004, the restored cell was sold at auction to magician David Copperfield. It now resides as part of his massive private magic collection in his home in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In 2003, an exact duplicate of the Water Torture Cell was discovered, leading to controversy over the authenticity of the restored cell.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Houdini

A Visual of the number of nuclear tests there has been made since 1945, it goes by monthly

Chernobyl Winds Over America

Nuclear Reactor in Japan

This video shows what happened with the nuclear reactors, and how they got destroyed.

Responsible, Thoughtful Nation Decides To Ignore Charlie Sheen Situation: More From The Onion

LOS ANGELES—Calling the situation "none of our business" and "not worth a second of our time, quite frankly," a responsible and thoughtful U.S. populace uniformly decided this week to ignore Charlie Sheen's recent outbursts, saying they had far more important things to focus on than a sitcom actor's personal troubles. "When Mr. Sheen's public meltdown began, I immediately recognized how a Hollywood star's crisis could be voyeuristically appealing, which is exactly why I said to myself, 'I am better than that; Charlie Sheen's attention-seeking behavior undermines my intelligence, and the sooner I ignore it, the sooner it will go away,'" said 41-year-old Denver accounts coordinator Margaret Atkins, who along with the rest of the nation has paid no attention to Sheen's situation, and has spent the majority of her time concentrating on the unrest in Libya, the collective-bargaining debate in the Midwest, and the health and well-being of her own family. "Not only have I chosen to ignore Mr. Sheen, but thankfully so has the American media, which has once again shown journalistic decency by only reporting the news that people legitimately need to know." Charlie Sheen was not sought out for comment.

Doctor Who Fan's Version of Satire.

For those of you who don't know what Doctor Who is, it's a British television show that features a 'Doctor' as the main character. He essentially is a time-traveling alien that saves many worlds and times from destruction. He's also good looking. I think there's been around 13 different Doctors since the show was created and David Tennent is the 12th. Needless to say I found this on YouTube and thoroughly enjoyed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtHO7W4IGUA&feature=feedrec_grec_index

Opt-in vs Opt-out

This information is important because it is helpful to understand different policies of different countries world wide. A controversial issue that I found deals with opt-in and opt-out system <-- deals with organ donations. Hopefully the bottom information clarifies my explanation. Opt In or Opt Out
The current "opt-in" system of organ donation – where individuals are asked to register their willingness to be a donor after their death – has been the subject of debate for many years.

~The United State favors this policy.

Opting out / presumed consent
Under a system of "opting out" or "presumed consent", every person living in that country is deemed to have given their consent to organ donation unless they have specifically "opted out" by recording in writing their unwillingness to give organs.

~Austria favors this policy.

Like many policies there is always Cons and Pros

Experience in other countries
Large disparities in organ donation rates exist throughout the world, despite the laws governing organ donation.

Some European countries with opt-out systems have higher donation rates than the UK. However there is no clear evidence that opt-out is the sole factor. The fact that Sweden has an opt-out law does not seem to influence the donation rate per million of population, which is lower than that of the UK, which does not. Within almost all countries, large local variations exist in donation rates, despite a common legislative background.

Opt-out systems can be "hard", as in Austria, where the views of close relatives are not taken into account, or "soft", as in Spain, where relatives' views are sought.

Different cultural attitudes to the disposal of bodies, greater provision of intensive care beds, more pro-active donation programmes and the numbers of road deaths, each play their part. However, the single most important factor so far identified is ensuring that the relatives of potential organ donors are always approached, and approached by someone specifically trained for the purpose, as happens in Spain.

In fact, while Spain is recognised as having a higher number of donors than the UK, it is acknowledged by the director of national transplant organisation in Spain himself that the increase in organ donation during the 1990s could not be attributed to a change in legislation which had remained the same since 1979. The improvements in donor rates in Spain followed the implementation of a comprehensive national procurement system.

http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt/newsroom/statements_and_stances/statements/opt_in_or_out.jsp

Beckham An Inspiration To Children Who Never Get Put In Game: Courtesy of The Onion

Whether intently watching the on-field action or waving to his family in the stands, David Beckham's impressive display of bench-sitting skills and off-field techniques since joining his new team has had a major impact on both the L.A. Galaxy sidelines and the millions of children who never get playing time. "He makes sitting on the bench awesome. I can't wait to not suit up for our next game," said Jeremy Parker, 9, who is not one of his soccer team's starting 11 players or even one of the seven substitutes. "For our next match, I'm going to dress up in my church clothes and try to hold my cup of Gatorade like Beckham." Leading child psychologists have applauded Beckham's positive influence, saying that as a role model, Beckham shows that it is not whether you win or lose, but how you watch others play the game.

Explosion at nuclear plant in Japan

This is relevant news in which everyone should be aware of!

A picture says more than a thousand words

This past few days we have been writing about the purpose of certain political cartoons. This is not a cartoon but it has a similar effect.

Ahh, the wonders of technology. In this photo Obama and Palin look content with each other. I only wished that they used half as much photoshop and more truth. Obama and Palin look too fit and too attractive for my liking.

Japan earthquake: Threat of meltdowns at four nuclear power plants

JAPANESE authorities are battling the threat of multiple reactor meltdowns at four nuclear power plants.
After an explosion on Saturday and reports of partial nuclear meltdowns at the Fukishima Number One Nuclear Power Plant and the nearby Fukushima Number Two plant, authorities today reported emergencies at two more nuclear facilities.
At the Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant, which is only 120 kilometre north of Tokyo, the cooling pump stopped working, while at the Onagawa nuclear power plant, in the Miyagi Prefecture, a state of emergency was declared because of excessive radiation levels.The incidents underlined the precipitous situation at the country's nuclear plants and particularly at the crippled Fukishima facility, where government officials admitted they feared meltdowns occurred within three of the site's reactors at the No. 1 plant and confirmed that radiation had leaked out.
Sources indicated to Fox News that the Fukishima No. 2 plant could also be in trouble with temperatures in three of its four reactors getting extremely high.
A spokesman for the Tokai plant, which suffered a nuclear accident in 1999, said that although a cooling pump had failed, a back-up pump was working and cooling the reactor.
The IAEA said that about 200,000 people had been evacuated from a 19 kilometre zone around the two Fukushima plants that house a total of 10 reactors.
The UN's nuclear watchdog also said four people were injured in a huge blast at the Fukushima No. 1 site Saturday and that one person was killed and four injured in a crane accident at the other plant nearby.
In all, 22 people were hospitalized after being exposed to radioactivity, according to AFP, although it was not immediately clear to what degree they were exposed and what their condition was. Local media cited by The Wall Street Journal said that up to 190 people might have been affected by radiation.

Tsunami in Japan

On Friday afternoon, March 11,2011 an 8.9-magnitude earthquake triggered tsunamis on the coastline north of Tokyo. The earthquake and tsunami had hit Japan in a time where Japan was struggling to get out of a recession and was pressured to curb the heaviest public debt load in the world. The earthquake was the fifth largest in the world since 1900 and nearly 8,000 times stronger. The nuclear power plant has been declared as a state of emergency because the pressure has surpassed normal levels. Thousands living near the Fukushima nuclear power plant are forced to evacuate the vicinities.



* Four trains are missing along the coast, says Japan Railways; and a ship carrying 100 people was swept away
* Fire has engulfed swathes of the coast in Miyagi prefecture's Kesennuma city, one-third of which is reportedly under water
* A major explosion hit a petrochemical plant in Sendai; further south a huge blaze swept an oil refinery in Ichihara city, Chiba prefecture
* Some 1,800 homes are reported to have been destroyed in the city of Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture
* A dam burst in north-eastern Fukushima prefecture, sweeping away homes, Kyodo news agency reports
* At least 20 people were injured in Tokyo when the roof of a hall collapsed on to a graduation ceremony


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/11/AR2011031105407.html?hpid=topnews

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709598