These 10 questions are drawn directly from the new naturalization exam of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services bureau. You must correctly answer 6 out of 10 to pass and become a citizen of the United States of America.

1. Name one important idea found in the Declaration of Independence.

2. What is the supreme law of the land?

3. What are the three branches or parts of the government?

4. How many United States senators are there?

5. The House of Representatives has how many voting members?

6. Who is the chief justice of the United States?

7. Name one example of checks and balances.

8. When was the Constitution drafted?

9. What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?

10. What type of economic system does the United States have?

See all 144 questions approved for this exam

Answers:

1. People are born with natural rights or The power of government comes from the people or People can change their government if it hurts their natural rights or All people are created equal

2. The Constitution

3. Legislative, executive, and judicial or Congress, the president, and the courts

4. 100

5. 435

6.John Roberts

7. The president vetoes a bill or Congress can confirm or deny a president's nomination or Congress approves the president's budget or The Supreme Court strikes down a law

8. 1787

9. The Bill of Rights

10. Capitalist economy or Free market or Market economy

Tony Auth - 12.07.2006

Myth No. 1: War is good - By Edward W. Wood Jr.

 The problem with America in its struggle with terrorism is one we never talk of: our dedication - some would say addiction - to the myths of World War II.

From our colonial wars, our revolution, our wars with Native Americans, our Civil War, our wars of expansion in 1846 and 1898 and our victory in World War I, we inherited war as a path to national identity. Our stunning triumph in World War II gave war its mythical and glorious aspect in our minds.

In spite of the stalemate in the Korean War, the brutal failure of the war in Vietnam and now the quagmire in Iraq - which even its advocates admit is not going well - the myths of that war more than 60 years ago continue to possess us and determine the way we relate to the rest of the world.

Severely wounded at age 19 in that war, I have watched those myths slowly soften its harsh horror. Out of our stunning victory in 1945 we have come to believe in the following myths

Read on

Daryl Cagle - 12.10.2006

Will it blend?
http://www.willitblend.com/

What would happen if all the zip codes were connected numerically?
http://eagereyes.org/Applications/ZIPScribbleMap.html

From the Christian Science Monitor:

With alarms bells over global warming ringing ever louder and more insistent, is it possible - or credible - for an active scientist working on climate questions to be skeptical of the cause or future severity?

Amid mounting evidence that temperatures are rising on planet Earth, the "skeptics" and "agnostics" are a smaller band than they used to be. Yet those who do still harbor doubts about a looming global-warming crisis are quietly continuing to test alternative ideas about how climate works and what, if not the burning of fossil fuels, might be causing the temperature creep.

This week some of the doubters testified at a Senate hearing on global warming, perhaps their last chance to take the bully pulpit for at least two years, now that Congress is shifting to Democratic control. At a hearing chaired by Sen. James Inhofe (R) of Oklahoma, who has dismissed warnings of a global-warming crisis as a hoax, they expressed misgivings about the reliability of climate forecasts and questioned whether the current warming even is unusual, among other things.

Read on

Microsoft and Novell have wasted little time in demonstrating there is real work being done as part of their recent Linux interoperability pact. Just a month after the historic deal between the companies, Novell said today it will support the proprietary document format in Microsoft Office 2007, Open XML, in its open-source version of the OpenOffice productivity suite by the end of January.

Novell also will release software that will bi-directionally translate word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations between its version of OpenOffice.org's productivity suite and Microsoft Office to the OpenOffice.org project so Open XML can become a part of that open-source project, the company said.

Read on

Team Wonderbike - Are you a member yet? Go take the pledge.

This article on High Country News talks about how "the Park Service finds itself watcheddogged by former staffers who no longer fear the consequences of protest."

Old but Faithful by Stephen J Lyons - How a feisty group of government retirees faced down the Bush administration and changed the future of America’s national parks

(Subscription required ... but it is worth it!)

Colors and you - Your choice of fave colors for different objects reveal your personality. - http://vn247.net/flash/Color-and-Me.swf

Your astrological sign shows insurance companies what kind of driver you are. - http://www.insurancehotline.com/a10.html

Christophers Walken's 12 Days of Christmas (Imagine him speaking it) - http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=1392

Check out this blog post on MotherJones discussing frozen sea methane amongst other things.

U.S. News and World Report has an article on 50 Ways to Impove Life in 2007.

Nick Anderson - 12.15.2006

After surviving 20 million years, China's goddess of the Yangtze might be the first big aquatic mammal to become extinct due to our activity.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2083841.ece

Why Craigslist chooses not to rake in the big bucks:

Craigslist President and Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster isn't nuts. He just sounds that way, particularly to anyone who thinks that the point of running a business is, you know, to make money.

And that was enough to make his appearance last week at the UBS Global Media & Communications Conference feel like a dizzying trip through Lewis Carroll's looking glass.

Speaking in an unflappable, near-monotone, Buckmaster calmly discussed with UBS analyst Ben Schachter a business model which, by any rational standard, is completely insane. And yet it's also been shockingly successful, at least in terms of traffic. Craigslist has revolutionized the classified advertising market with its free listings for everything from real estate to jobs to personals. Newspaper companies, in particular, have been hit hard.

Read more on Forbes.com

PC Magazines 15 Best Places to Waste Time on the Web.

McDonald's has applied for patents in the U.S. and Europe for the "method and apparatus" used in the preparation of the sandwich.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=26183&in_page_id=34

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1952246,00.html

Chuck Asay - 12.18.2006

You can't trust the government; you can't believe what they say, and you can't rely on their judgment. . . . People do things the president wants to do even though it's wrong, and the president can be wrong.

- H.R. Haldeman, White House chief of staff, in the early 70's paraphrasing the thinking of presidential advisor Donald Rumsfeld

Big time winter storm hitting Denver right now.

I made it to work for dinner this evening and breakfast tomorrow. The hotel is full with most of the guest stuck and unable to travel and more walking in looking for rooms.

Fun, fun, fun.

Wishing you and yours
a Joyous Christmas,
Happy Hanukkah,
a prosperous New Year,
peace, love, laughter
and a great good cheer.

Andrew Otto - AP