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02/16/2012 FASHION by france24english

Shortlist For Romantic Novel Awards

Contemporary Romantic Novel

It Started with a Kiss by Miranda Dickinson
Summer of Love by Katie Fforde
The Untied Kingdom by Kate Johnson
To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell
Chances by Freya North
Christmas at Tiffany's by Karen Swan

Epic Romantic Novel

Jubilate by Michael Arditti
That Liverpool Girl by Ruth Hamilton
The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas
Crimson China by Betsy Tobin

Historical Romantic Novel

Highland Storms by Christina Courtenay
The Noble Assassin by Christie Dickason
Daughter of Siena by Marina Foriato
Perhaps Tomorrow by Jean Fullerton
A Gathering Storm by Rachel Hore

Romantic Comedy Novel

The Look of Love by Judy Astley
Please Don't Stop the Music by Jane Lovering
Wrapped up in You by Carole Matthews
Who's Afraid of Mr Wolfe by Hazel Osmond
Lizzy Harrison Loses Control by Pippa Wright

Young Adult Romantic Novel

Artichoke Hearts by Sita Brahmachari
Dark Ride by Caroline Green
My So-called Phantom Lovelife by Tamsyn Murray
Angel Fire by LA Weatherley

Tony Charleston's Scumbag Storytales - Episode 1: Getting Stuck In

Our new resident wannabe scumbag is clearly taking care of business in this video. Give him an old like to let him know that you would like to see more. X

Impossible Photography

What Does 100,000-Year-Old Seagrass Look LIke?

This archaic seagrass' or underwater meadows are called Posidonja oceanica and live in the Mediterranean. What is their secret to a long-life? According to Professor Carlos Duarte, the director of the Oceans Institute, Withthrop, " Clonal organisms have an extraordinary capacity to transmit only highly competent genomes through generation, with potentially no end" although now climate change is threatening their being. Duarte adds " Indeed, the ancient meadows [...] are declining at a rate several hundred-fold faster than the rate over which they spread when forming, a situation that this slow growing, long lived species is capable of recovering from." This will have consequences to all of earth as these meadows are essential to coastal ecosystems. Replanting these meadows has proved unsuccessful thus so far,so they face a struggle we will share with them in the decades to come. 

For those who want to know more about seagrass here is a variety of helpful links:

http://teamseagrass.blogspot.com

http://www.seagrasswatch.org/Singapore.html

http://thesilvercane.blogspot.com

http://myfwc.com/research/habitat/seagrasses/information/learn/

http://pigcos.soest.hawaii.edu/piccp/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=66

Jackson Pollock's Corpse 100 Years Old Today

The man the media liked to call "Jack the Dripper", changed art for good or bad without really trying, as he shrugged his burly shoulders and retreated into his laboratory of paints for their carnivorous awakening on the pithy canvas'.

 

Is the Legalization of Drugs in Portugal a Success?

In 2001 the Portuguese government became the first country to decriminalize drugs- now this does not mean shops can sale drugs, or drug dealers can register themselves as legal businesses-no- this means anyone caught in possession of certain quantity of drugs (less then a ten day supply) for personal use does not have to go to prison and have their reputation malhawked, rather they are forced to meet and be evaluated by a social worker, a psychiatrist, and an attorney who outline reasonable actions to help the drug user if they indeed need help at all.

It reminds me of an episode of The Wire, where an audacious district commander, Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin sick of the failing methods used in squalid neighborhoods in fighting the criminal drug hierarchy sets up Hamsterdam, where he copies the methods of Amsterdam and proposes that as long as drug dealers agree to stay off other streets other than the street allocated they can go about their business. It is interesting to note contrary to common belief marijuana has never been legal in the Netherlands, rather they consciously turned a blind eye to enforcing the law against shops which provided marijuana to customers.

 So why did Portugal break way from the general, conservative European drug policies?  The reason why Portugal enacted such radical laws was that it had the worse drug use in all of the European Union, so they felt a different approach was needed and urgently. João Goulão the president of the Institute on Drugs and Drug Addiction said " we were out of options". Portugal had the highest AIDS caused by dirty syringes deaths than anywhere else in the European Union in 1999.

So has it paid off?The statistics say yes, their are vast improvements. Portugal nowadays finds itself with the lowest rate of marijuana users in Europe, America has roughly 450% more marijuana users and hilariously they have the most stringent laws in the entire world for drug use, America Fail! Since the new laws were introduced, drug use and drug-related deaths have fallen along with the bonus of a rise in those seeking treatment for drug addiction due to the fact that they are no longer afraid of criminal prosecution for seeking such help to their drug problems. There has also been more success in catching those higher up the chain of organized drug-related crime. Glenn Greenwald who worked for the Cato Institute on researching the results of the new laws said “judging by every metric, drug decriminalization in Portugal has been a resounding success. It has enabled the Portuguese government to manage and control the drug problem far better than virtually every other Western country."

Anthony Hopkin's Song From The 1980s

Smoking Pipes Banned! Unless You Are A Dalmatian

The land that has given us dalmatians, has disgracefully banned the lovable pipe, which Rene Magritte refuted the existence of with his painting entitled "This is not a pipe". Now there will be no "This is not a pipe"s at all in Croatia!This sign was spotted off the coast of Dubrovnick. Funnily enough you are allowed to smoke in train carriages, pubs and restaurant but not in the open air of parks! There is loophole in the legislation we here at MRHP have researched and found to be an effective solution. Dalmatians are allowed to smoke pipes in parks, so pop on a dalmatian costume and you are ready to go! 

We here at MRHP will appreciate our rights to smoke in parks by ambulating to our neighborhood park, nestled in-between ugly houses and having a few puffs of liberation. Ah the sweet smell of billowing smoke freedom!

Dinosaurs Eating!

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