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The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Woman faces theft charges for returning lost wallet

Minus the cash that is ...

An elderly Florida woman is facing theft charges after she found a wallet and mailed it back to its owner, minus the cash.

Full Story

Top towns for living well

Top towns for living wellThese small cities have educated workforces earning enviable salaries.

Top towns for living well

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Winner of 'best job in the world' selected

Winner of 'best job in the world' selected

A British man beats out 35,000 applicants to be the new caretaker of a tropical island.

Winner selected

Race car runs on chocolate

Race car runs on chocolate Scientists use flax and carrots to build a biofuel car they say can reach speeds of 145 mph.

Race car runs on chocolate

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Stocks rally as fears ease over banks

Stocks rally as fears ease over banksThe Dow Jones jumps after investors get word that America's biggest banks might not be as frayed as some had feared.

Stocks rally as fears ease over banks

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Southern California wildfire threatens 2,000 homes

Southern California wildfire threatens 2,000 homesDrier air and strong winds are raising concerns about a fire burning north of Santa Barbara.

Southern California wildfire

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Remember facts by cramming with fat

Indulging in a oily meal after studying for an exam could boost your results, a study in rats shows.

Science and art: Still two cultures divided?

In his 1959 essay, the novelist C. P. Snow argued that science and the humanities were dangerously divided – but is it still true in 2009?

Science and art: Still two cultures divided?

Oh, those deadly blogs

Law prof Eugene Volokh blogs about a U.S. House of Representatives bill proposed by Rep. Linda T. Sanchez and 14 others that could make it a federal felony to use your blog, social media like MySpace and Facebook, or any other web media "To Cause Substantial Emotional Distress Through "Severe, Repeated, and Hostile" Speech."
Here's the relevant text:

Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both....

["Communication"] means the electronic transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user's choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received; ...

["Electronic means"] means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.

Jacob Sullum at Reason thinks the proposed law is stupid, too.
It was bad enough that a grandstanding U.S. attorney successfully prosecuted Lori Drew, a Missouri woman who participated in a cruel MySpace prank that apparently precipitated the 2006 suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier, under an anti-hacking law that clearly was not intended for this sort of situation. Now Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) and 14 of her colleagues want to make such prosecutions easier through a breathtakingly broad bill that would criminalize a wide range of speech protected by the First Amendment. The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act would make it a felony punishable by up to two years in prison to transmit an electronic communication ("including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages") "with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person...to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior."

Congress Critters are an amazingly stupid lot ...

This idiocy is tailor made for all the wing-nuts out there who are the most prolific purveyors of "Severe, Repeated, and Hostile" Speech to blow a gasket when any other point of view is expressed and accuse the person expressing the 'other' opinion of 'severe, repeated and hostile' speech toward them and their ideals and demand the other person be prosecuted all the while maintaining their 'innocence' as they continue to spew hate and vitriol.

If this proposed 'law' would be applied to those who actually are engaging in Severe, Repeated and Hostile" Speech instead of the way it would be perverted as the sentence before described, it would be a step in the correct direction ... however it wouldn't be and the Haters will continue to spew and others would be silenced - just what the Haters want.

New Genetic Survey: Humans Originated Near Current Border of Angola and Namibia

(Photo: a cc-licensed snapshot from Namibia by Flickr user Waterwin.)

Part of a NYT article about a new study by a group of geneticists which pins the origin of humankind to a spot on the coast of southwest Africa near the Kalahari Desert. The study is said to be the largest ever of its kind on African genetic diversity. The researchers say Africans are descended from 14 ancestral populations that typically correlate with language and cultural groups.

Locations for the Garden of Eden have been offered many times before, but seldom in the somewhat inhospitable borderland where Angola and Namibia meet.

A new genetic survey of people in Africa, the largest of its kind, suggests, however, that the region in southwest Africa seems, on the present evidence, to be the origin of modern humans. The authors have also identified some 14 ancestral populations.

The new data goes far toward equalizing the genetic picture of the world, given that most genetic information has come from European and Asian populations. But because it comes from Africa, the continent on which the human lineage evolved, it also sheds light on the origins of human life.

The research team was led by Sarah A. Tishkoff of the University of Pennsylvania, and reported in in a recent issue of Science: "The Genetic Structure and History of Africans and African Americans."

Repugican clown college photos

Rncclowns

Hebiclens / WMxdesign used an image editing program to strip the makeup off the faces of prominent wing-nuts to revel what they actually look like. They are so weak they're pastel you don't often see pastels on clowns.

RNC Clown College

Dying woman has 20 pets tattooed on her body to 'take them with her'

A terminally ill woman is having pictures of all her beloved pets tattooed on her body - so she can 'take them with her' when she dies.

Full Story

Elderly man mistakes card for noisy neighbors

German police said an elderly man was so annoyed at hearing the same serenade over and over that he called authorities to report his neighbors - only to discover the culprit was a musical greeting card on his own windowsill.

Full Story

Man sues for $1 over right to wear skirt in public

A man sued the New Orleans Police Department, claiming he was harassed by an officer who threatened to arrest him for wearing a black pinstriped skirt to municipal court.

Full Story

Police nab naked man seen walking on bike path

A man faces an indecent exposure charge after celebrating his 21st birthday in only his birthday suit.

Full Story

Lone Afghanistani pig quarantined

The only known pig in Afghanistan has been quarantined after concerns were raised that it could infect the public with the swine flu.

Full Story

Farmers' crops keeping US cool

While cities create a warm bubble known as the urban heat island, most farms have an opposite effect and are counteracting climate change in the US, say researchers.

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Santiago, Region Metropolitana, Chile
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Harlow, England, United Kingdom
Stockton-On-Tees, England, United Kingdom
Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Petaling Jaya, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Semerang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia
London, England, United Kingdom
Xanten, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Middlesbrough, England, United Kingdom
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Bedford, England, United Kingdom
Bratislavia, Bratislavia, Slovakia
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Rome, Lazio, Italy

as well as Brazil and the United States

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

You're getting closer on a personal level with an authority figure at work, but being more social with this person doesn't mean that you're going to be getting any special treatment.
But this is a good thing.
It would be insulting if they started treating you differently anyway, wouldn't it?
Not to mention the fact that it could negatively affect your reputation.
Plus, you need to be rewarded for the value you bring to the job, not how fun you are to hang out with.

Darn, all that smoozing and no special treatment?!