Life Magazine has featured some of the most iconic and memorable images snapped in the 20th century and now, thanks to a partnership with Google, 10 million of the celebrated magazine’s archival photographs will appear online. Life revealed that the public has never seen as many as 97 percent of the photographs.

Good news and bad news has leaked out of Yahoo. Good news: the layoff-happy company is hiring–well, only one person, but still a step in the right direction. Bad News: Jerry Yang is about to lose his gig as Yahoo CEO. Actually, that’s good news for everyone other than Yang who has come under fierce criticism for his inability to close the deal with Microsoft and overall questionable executive decisions. Yang will reportedly step down as soon as the search engine giant can find a replacement, a process that will be handled by executive search firm Heirdrick & Struggles. So long Jerry, don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

Tighter restrictions on foreign adoptions, allegations of fraud and former adoption hot spot nations putting more efforts and funding into caring for their abandoned and orphaned children has resulted in a sharp decline in the number of foreign children adopted by Americans. The number dropped 12 percent over the past year, dipping to the lowest level since 1999. International adoption advocates fear adoptions could slip even further in 2009 as Guatemala struggles to control its formerly out of control adoption business. The downswing in foreign adoptions could give hope to the approximately 125,000 children currently in the United States foster system as potential adoptive parents skip the newly imposed hassles of going abroad and look to give American kids a new home.
(Photo Credit: Andrea Laurita/iStockphoto)

Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin may have gone home to Alaska a loser after the November 4 election, but the Alaska governor’s rumored book deal could reap a multi-million-dollar advance. You betcha that’s a lot of moola! Literary agents have reportedly already started swarming around Palin, hoping to land the memoir of her journey from beauty queen to moose-hunting politician to high-profile candidate in a historic race for the White House. Hmm, let’s hope they release an accompanying made-for-TV movie set to air on Fox News for all those “real” American folks not too keen on reading. Kidding, although, if someone does make a movie, who should play Palin?

Before the ongoing battles about the outcome of California’s Prop 8 vote, a battle for money to fund the advertising blitz on both sides brewed, pitting the deep pockets of gay-friendly Hollywood and San Fran tech types against the quite determined and sharp-elbowed Mormons. Tech geek-filled companies like Apple and Google donated money or offered public support to fight the gay marriage ban, but at least one tech legend went against much of the rest of the Silicon Valley crowd–WordPerfect co-founder Alan Ashton forked over a $1 million donation to the “Vote ‘yes’ on Prop 8″ campaign, a hefty sum that helped bankroll proponents of the ban. Well, I suppose since pretty much no one actually uses WordPerfect anymore there’s nothing for the opponents of Prop 8 to boycott.

The Bradley effect may not have cost Obama the election, but the ugly head of racism is being reared far beyond the confines of school buses in Rexburg, Idaho. The Editor and Publisher website has been documenting the sharp increase in hate crimes and threats occurring all over the nation, and the results aren’t pretty. The “The Osama Obama Shotgun Pool” is being run in a Maine convenience store, while beatings of black people accompanied by racial epitaphs and threats to the president-elect have been reported in the blue states of California and New York, to name a very few. So much for “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Truemors parent site NowPublic has a superb firsthand account of the brushfire that’s sweeping through the San Fernando Valley. Also included are additional witness photos and local info regarding evacuations, traffic, and other need-to-knows. Fire coverage from the frontline.

The war in Afghanistan seems to look a lot better to German troops through the lens of beer goggles according to the Fatherland’s defense ministry numbers. The parliament’s defense committee investigated the issue when reports of a “healthy” thirst level in the military camps from troops and Afghans reached their ears. Although the defense ministry maintains that troops aren’t abusing the two-drink-a-day limit, the alcohol-free Americans and off-duty-only British tipplers aren’t thrilled that, “some drink beer while others risk their lives.” Others are wondering how seriously the German troops are really taking their mission in light of the report as well.

One has to wonder if confession night has been getting a bit slow down south, but if South Carolina Catholics in one parish plan on lining up for communion next Sunday, they’d better pay the penance piper. Father Jay Scott Newman explained: “Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil,” and there’s no partaking of the body and blood without confession and completed penance. Red or not, you might want to take a magazine to pass the time… preferably the latest edition of Catholic Digest, though.

Any possible lingering bitterness over primary bickering appears to have been put to rest, as sources say Obama offered Hillary Clinton the position of Secretary of State during their meeting yesterday. A source close to the New York senator said she asked for time to consider the offer, which she had not sought or even seriously considered until the last few days. Salon is wondering, though, where the leak in the waterproof Obama team is occurring.

Originally posted 11/12/08: Socialist deputies in the European Parliament have called for the removal of Facebook groups that promote anti-Gypsy sentiments and those that have links to fascist organizations, consequently renewing a free speech debate on the social networking site. Speaking on the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, German MEP and Socialist group leader Martin Schulz blasted groups with names like “Let’s burn them all” and “Turn gypsies into fuel,” saying, “It is shameful that on the day Europe marks the deaths of those who fell in war, Facebook is helping those who want to take us back to those dark days.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously refused to remove controversial groups, including a request from members of the British parliament who wanted to give the heave-ho to four Facebook groups backing the Britain’s fascist National Party. Update (11/14/08): Facebook has removed the groups in question, saying they violated the site’s Terms of Use.

Online auction watchers hoping to jump in with a last second bid to grab highly sought after presidential inauguration tickets will have to find a new way to snag the hottest tickets in town. eBay announced this week that it has removed and will no longer allow sales of supposed inauguration tickets after a meeting with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. In a statement on the committee’s site, staff director Howard Gantman explained, “Any Web site or ticket broker claiming that they have inaugural tickets is simply not telling the truth.” Only about 240,000 tickets will be made available for the historic January 20 event, so start sucking up to your Congressman.

Barack Obama continues building his army of tech nerds, adding another handful of tech executives to his transition team this week. Key players joining the team include Stonebridge International COO Michael Warren, senior director at Yahoo’s Washington public policy office Louisa Terrell, venture capitalist Tom Wheeler and Level 3 Communications exec Donald Gips. Transition team members will segment into groups of advisors that plan to review key federal departments, agencies, and commissions and make recommendations to Obama, Vice President-elect Joe Biden and their top advisers about decisions on policy, personnel and budget issues. Obama should certainly heed caution though because we all know how crazy tech execs can be when thrown in a room together–like Girls Gone Wild, only replace the whole boob flashing part with a start-up pitch-athon.

Thousands are flocking to Ratanpur, Nepal to be touched by the young man who is believed to be the reincarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, better known as Buddha, despite the skepticism voiced by some Buddhist scholars. Ram Bahadur Bamjan,18, is believed to have fasted for three years, despite his healthy appearance, and was first discovered meditating under a tree in the jungles of southern Nepal much like the Buddha himself. Said one skeptic, though: “Being Buddha means the last birth and the highest level that can be achieved. There can be no reincarnation of Buddha, even though Buddhists believe in life after death.” The pilgrims disagree; as one farmer put it: “I have no doubt in my mind he is a God…I used to hear about such miracles in the past but now I got to see one.”

The increasing competitiveness to land a spot in American universities is no secret, but today’s students may want to unplug the iPod and listen up: Harvard is just one of the schools scoping the cream of the crop in China for new recruits, and the trend is only likely to accelerate as the Eastern monolith opens its doors. As the Ivy League icon seeks to boost its math and science reputation, China’s top students are lining up for scholarship opportunities. Former Harvard dean and current admissions committee member, Harry Lewis, notes that if this trend bothers people stateside, it may serve as a wake-up call to the need for some serious work inspiring interest in math and overhauling current programs. And if parents out there thought there was time to spare, think again; Harvard is suggesting kids as young as fifth-grade start hitting the books harder if they’re aiming high.

If Americans learned anything from this election cycle, it’s that the devil’s in the details, and the Bush administrations final environmental proposals are no exception. For starters, with a boom of power plant construction on the horizon, the administration is proposing monitoring pollution emitted by the hour rather than overall, which could spew gook without sparking an investigation. Next, a load will be taken off the shoulders of the US Fish and Wildlife Service if they no longer have to do those pesky impact studies on endangered species as the government departments in charge of development projects self regulate themselves and, finally, a little redefining of what constitutes mining wastes may have those clear streams running with the nasties in no time. Now that’s what I call a legacy. It’s like giving Mother Earth a big hug with muddy hands.

The Gate of Ishtar, the Hanging Gardens, Hammurabi’s Code and the Tower of Babel, all treasures of the ancient city of Babylon, some lost forever perhaps in part due to the recent decades of conflict in Iraq. As history begins to turn a critical eye toward US involvement in the country, the site of Babylon has been targeted for thorough study by UNESCO. Saddam Hussein’s ego-inspired Disneyfication of the site did archaeologists no favors, but the Iraqi government has asked the organization to especially focus on the effects of US and Polish use of the area in 2003 and 2004. Heavy military equipment and the use of artifact-laden sand for sandbags may have had a serious impact on scientists’ ability to study the ancient city to which they have had little access for the last hundred years.

The one-eyed, three-legged Chinese Crested pup that captured the hearts of countless ugly dog lovers has died in Florida. Gus, current title holder of World’s Ugliest Dog, passed away over the weekend at the age of 9 from cancer. Gus’ adopted family saved him from a bad home where his former owners kept him in a crate inside a garage, but with lots of love and care, Gus managed to recover from his physical ailments, including an eyeball poke from a feisty feline, and lead a happy life. Gus’ family had used his prize money for radiation treatments. Rest in peace pretty pooch.

No one can deny that President-elect Obama has a full plate of concerns to be served up on January 20th, but one of the ongoing threats to the new administration will be the rise of the American hard-right witnessed in the last months of the campaign. Wary investors may want to look into Smith and Wesson stock as gun sales boom, and the Secret Service warned the first family that a precipitous rise in threats occurred during the month of October. Whether the soothing of fears lies in job creation, health care or an honest discussion is anyone’s guess, but with any luck, the memory of the Oklahoma City tragedy hasn’t receded so far from public consciousness that extreme nationalism isn’t added to the long list of threats facing the United States today.

The Fail Whale Brigade has welcomed a new member–Al Gore! Sure, he’s only posted three tweets and still uses a picture from his sexier days, but who doesn’t? Gore emerged as liberals’ cuddly environmentalist with a Tennessee twang and penchant for all things Mother Earth, so expect his followers to shoot up to Calacanis and Scoble levels in the near future. Gore joined the microblogging site yesterday night after a sit down chat with Digg’s Kevin Rose for Current TV and it seems Rose made quite an impact. Now, if Gore starts sporting a 5 o’clock shadow and hipster jeans, we’ll know the former VP is pining for a place in the 2.0 all-stars’ world of tech wonder.

Election Day 2008 has finally rolled around and no matter where you hide, you can’t escape the excitement, anxiety and buzz surrounding the race for the White House. Tune in for comprehensive coverage and first-hand accounts of all the Election Day action over at our parent site, NowPublic. And don’t forget to vote for Pete’s sake!

The tech community has come out swinging with wallets open this political season and not for one specific candidate, but rather against a proposition on the California ballot that would make gay marriage illegal in California. Prop 8 has received big donations from Apple and Google and garnered public support from some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. Big wigs from Yahoo (David Filo, Jerry Yang, Sue Decker), Google (Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt), Facebook (Sheryl Sandberg) and numerous other Valley-based businesses hope to see Prop 8 struck down and voiced their opposition through a large print ad run in the San Jose Mercury News. Funny that the pioneers of new media went to old media to spread the word about “No on Prop 8.”

Barack Obama’s campaign has released “A Blueprint for Change: Technology,” a video detailing the planned tech policies of an Obama administration. The footage featured in three-minute vignette comes from a speech given by the Democrat presidential candidate at Google headquarters. Obama lays out tech policy promises like “Create a Transparent and Connected Democracy,” “Deploy a Modern Communications Infrastructure,” “Improve America’s Competitiveness” and “Employ Science, Technology and Innovation to Solve Our Nation’s Most Pressing Problems.” With Obama running arguably the most tech savvy campaign in history, could his possible presidency finally bring government operations into the 21st century?

Battling the millions donated by Mormons to pass California’s Prop 8, Apple has chipped in $100,000 to defeat the measure that would overturn the Golden State’s legalization of gay marriage. A statement released by the company read, in part: “Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue…and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.”

When John McCain criticizes Obama about meetings without preconditions, he may know more about such meetings that previously believed. Six documents have been uncovered by the Huffington Post revealing a hush-hush meeting between the Republican presidential candidate and brutal Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, that took place while the Justice Department was seeking the extradition of two of the Butcher’s cronies for acts of terrorism against the US. No evidence has been found that McCain took the leader to task over his human rights violations or anti-democratic actions or that he met with opposition parties as did other senators, such as Ted Kennedy, who took similar — but well-publicized — trips to the region during the same time period. Whether the documents are real or faked, the story should be examined more closely to discover the truth behind the allegations.