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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.


Tuesday, September 8, 2009

A year after financial crisis, the consumer economy is dead

One year after the near collapse of the global financial system, this much is clear: The financial world as we knew it is over, and something new is rising from its ashes.

Indonesia declines Australia's quake aid offer

Indonesia has declined Australian and other offers of aid in the wake of last week's 7.0-magnitude earthquake, which buried scores of people and damaged thousands of homes in West Java.

Indonesia declines Australia's quake aid offer

Recall Involving Green Onions Sold In Indiana

Two California produce shippers have recalled thousands of cases of green onions supplied by an onion farm in Mexicali, Mexico, over fears the onions could be contaminated with salmonella.

Full Story

Six Massachusetts boys accused in beating

Six boys, ages 11 to 14, have been charged with severely beating a Guatemalan immigrant in an attack that civil rights groups are decrying as 'hateful.'

Derrek Shulman, the New England regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Tuesday that the beating of Damian Merida is an example of how immigrants are singled out for attacks.

Six Massachusetts boys accused in beating

Rich neighbors sue over a fence

Rich neighbors sue over a fence

A stone wall in the wealthy suburb of Westport, Conn., has led to more than $150,000 in legal fees.

Mandatory flu shots for some

Mandatory flu shots for some

One state is requiring health workers to be immunized against seasonal and swine flu.

Egyptian temples followed heavenly plans

A study of 650 temples dating from 3000 BC shows that they were laid out to precisely align with astronomical events.

Egyptian temples followed heavenly plans

Diamonds are for softies

The super-tough gemstones are in danger of losing their crown as the hardest kid on the block.

Diamonds are for softies – boron is harder

Health News

In Health News

Fat reprograms genes linked to diabetes

Clues to how diabetes develops in adults comes from research showing that fats reprogramme muscle cell genes.

Soldier Killed After Re-Enlisting to Get Health Insurance

While people still continue to fight over whether or not health care should be provided for all, and the morality of allowing people to die because of lack of health insurance, here is the sad story of a soldier who re-enlisted to get insurance for his family, then later died in Afghanistan.

Full Story

Video of Obama's Speech to Students

President Obama gave his rah, rah type speech to students today. While there has been controversy over his speech, with wing nuts conveniently forgetting how their hero ronny ragun met with students during his term, Obama did nothing to "indoctrinate" students, but rather encouraged them to work hard.

Bay Bridge Re-Opens Early

Despite announcing that the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge would not open until Wednesday morning at 5 AM, 24 hours later than originally scheduled because of a crack in a support link found over the weekend, the Bay Bridge re-opened only hours later than the original time.

Full Story

Moore Makes First Venice Premiere

Michael Moore says his film "Capitalism: A Love Story" is dedicated to "good people ... who've had their lives ruined" by the quest for profit.

Pack of Wild Dogs Terrorize Texas Neighborhood

And, No, we aren't talking about the repugicans down there - although we could just as easily be conversing about the repugicans down ther with this story.

Wild dogs have killed more than six pets in the Woodland Heights area of Houston, Texas.

Pack of Wild Dogs Terrorize Texas Neighborhood

Minnesota man charged with killing toddler

One man has been charged with murder and another with assault in a baseball bat attack at a western Minnesota church that left a 14-month-old girl dead.
Bail was set Tuesday at $750,000 for David Collins, who was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of second-degree assault.

Minnesota man charged with killing toddler

The Mighty Quinn



Manfred Mann

Consumers cut debt by record $21.6B in July

Consumers slashed their borrowing in July by the largest amount on record as job losses and uncertainty about the economic recovery prompted Americans to rein in their debt.

Consumers cut debt by record $21.6B

Man Bitten by Copperhead Inside Walmart Garden Center

A South Carolina man is recovering after being bitten by a Copperhead snake at the Goose Creek WalMart's Lawn and Garden Center.

Employees killed the snake and placed it in an ambulance with the man for species identification.

The Goose Creek Fire Department later issued a statement saying only one of the snake's fangs entered the man.

(Talk about being 'bitten' at the store!)

Gary Cooper Will Be Honored With His Own Postage Stamp

Some might say it's high time the postal service issued a stamp honoring Gary Cooper.

Gary Cooper Honored

Dog hops online, looking for date

One dog in Oregon is taking his look for love online, seeking a mate on Craigslist for his first doggy date.

He 'literally' knocked of her feet

Future bride's unlucky day

A hiker tumbles down a mountain trail moments after her boyfriend pops the question.

Surprising foods filled with sugar

Surprising foods filled with sugar

You may not know that these 11 foods are loaded with the sweet stuff.

Importance of birth order

The real importance of birth order

Some believe that youngest children talk later, and oldest kids get all the attention.

And I Quote

There is a paradox in pride: it makes some men ridiculous, but prevents others from becoming so.

~ Charles Caleb Colton

Scavenging power from trees

 Images Newsreleases 2009 September 20090904 Pid51873 Aid51869 Treepowergroup W600 Engineers have run an electrical circuit using the power of a tree, seemingly the first demonstration of its kind. The University of Washington researchers determined that bigleaf maples on the school's campus generate up to few hundred millivolts. (The current is not mentioned.) So they built a low-power sensing circuit that could scavenge enough juice from a tree to operate.

From UWNews:
The tree-power phenomenon is different from the popular potato or lemon experiment, in which two different metals react with the food to create an electric potential difference that causes a current to flow.

"We specifically didn't want to confuse this effect with the potato effect, so we used the same metal for both electrodes," (electrical engineering professor Babak) Parviz said.

Tree power is unlikely to replace solar power for most applications, Parviz admits. But the system could provide a low-cost option for powering tree sensors that might be used to detect environmental conditions or forest fires. The electronic output could also be used to gauge a tree's health.

"It's not exactly established where these voltages come from. But there seems to be some signaling in trees, similar to what happens in the human body but with slower speed," Parviz said. "I'm interested in applying our results as a way of investigating what the tree is doing. When you go to the doctor, the first thing that they measure is your pulse. We don't really have something similar for trees."

Last hope for health care deal?

Last hope for health care deal?

A new proposal from Sen. Max Baucus may be the last chance for a bipartisan compromise.

How Warren Buffett wins in crisis

How Warren Buffett wins in crisis

Even in his worst year, the billionaire investor is making huge gains from the recession.

Isn't that special

Why 09/09/09 is so special

Numerologists aren't the only ones excited about Wednesday's date.

'24 hours in the ER' shows challenges of current health system

The key elements of today's debate on health care converge in the ER, from the cutting-edge quality of the U.S. system to the millions of uninsured people who show up for care. The debate reaches a critical moment this week, as Congress returns to Washington to take up proposals to revamp the system. President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday to press for action.

To explore the issue, USA TODAY chronicled 24 hours in the emergency room at the UVA Medical Center, a teaching hospital and trauma center that serves patients across a swath of central Virginia. From dawn Monday to dawn Tuesday, Aug. 24-25, reporters talked with patients and their families, doctors and nurses, helicopter pilots and ER housekeepers about their experiences with health care and their views on changing the system.

Full Story

Tourist arrested in Brazil for kissing eight-year-old daughter

An Italian tourist arrested in Brazil after being accused of publicly molesting his eight-year-old daughter has been put under police guard in hospital after falling ill when a judge rejected his plea for bail.

There has to be something more to this other than a father kissing his child? Where and how did he kiss her - Rampant paranoia of the perverted kind on the part of the authorities - or what?

If he was molesting her just place him in a pool with some of Brazil's natural aquatic predators and let him fight it out for survival.
If he survives there is always Curare tipped darts.
If he was not molesting her and the authorities 'over reacted' for whatever reason, put them is that same pool and see how they do.

Tourist arrested in Brazil for kissing eight-year-old daughter

Congo sentences two Norwegians to death

A Congolese court sentenced two Norwegians to death Tuesday after convicting them of espionage and murder, drawing sharp criticism from Norway's government.

Norwegians sentenced to death

Why it happened ...

Two key factors undermined the NAZI's campaign: US involvement boosted the allies' arms-producing capabilities, while sheer Soviet manpower led to catastrophic defeat in Russia.

Why Hitler's grand plan collapsed

Vermont group tries to take Chili's pepper sign

From the "Some people need a life" Department:

A giant chili pepper on the roof of a Chili's restaurant in southern Vermont was a hot property — police say four people have been caught trying to steal it.

Bennington police say the group ran 470 feet of extension cord across a four-lane road and through a Home Depot parking lot to power an electric drill used to detach the logo sign early Sunday.

Sgt. Camillo Grande says they also brought a hacksaw to remove the pepper sign, valued at $8,000.

An alarm went off at about 4:30 a.m., thwarting their plans to make their getaway in an SUV.

The four — two college students, a recent graduate and one who is "between work and school" — were cited for grand larceny.

Things never to do in the office

10 things never to do in the office

Beware of these blunders unless you want to be the coworker everyone loves to hate.

Where is the Vasoline when you need it?!


These people got screwed just a little bit worse than most Americans have been screwed by this country's stupid and heartless health care system.

Their employer withheld health care premiums from their paychecks, but cancelled their insurance coverage.

Like most of the luckier Americans, they trusted their employer with their lives ...

He's president, he's black — get over it

Merlene Davis has a good piece in the Lexington Herald-Leader entitled He's president, he's black — get over it that is worth a read.
She says exactly what 'the problem' these wing nut idiots (other than being wing nut idiots) have with our president, no matter how or in what they couch it.

There are still faint flickers of truth and honesty in journalism. You just wouldn't expect them to be in Kentucky.

Xinjiang and McDonald's

Riot-hit Xinjiang tightens rules on chemical sales

China's volatile Xinjiang region is tightening controls over the sale of dangerous chemicals in an effort to improve public safety, state media reported Tuesday.

McDonald's loses trademark fight against McCurry

U.S. fast food giant McDonald's lost an eight-year trademark battle to prevent local restaurant McCurry from using the 'Mc' prefix in a precedent-setting judgment by Malaysia's highest court.

News of the Weird

Chinese say they filmed UFO footage

Chinese scientists say that they've filmed an unidentified flying object for 40 minutes as it flew in the sky during the recent total solar eclipse, according to the Telegraph

Strange image snapped on hunting camera

Has the legendary Bigfoot finally been found?
That's what some people in Kentucky are saying after a hunter says he snapped a picture of an unidentified creature.

Hare We Go


Bugs Bunny shows Christopher Columbus how to get to America

College is asking for money back

College is asking for money back

Penn State wants honors parents to "donate" merit awards to needier students.

Psychologist Says That While Facebook "Makes You Smart," Twitter "Makes You Dumb"

Dr. Tracy Alloway, from the University of Stirling in Scotland, has done research which tends to point to Facebook being an enhancer of intelligence, while Twitter has the opposite effect. That's a simplistic view of her research, but taken at face value, it means Facebook makes you smarter, while Twitter makes you more stupid.

Full Story

Not so sure about this. Both have a whole lot of "dumb" on them.

Renewed Muslim cartoon uproar

From the "Oh, give it a rest, will ya!?" Department:

Renewed Muslim cartoon uproar

A controversy over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad reignites at Yale University.

*****

Depict or don't depict, who cares - no one you need to be concerned about. Personally, I could not give less of a flying rat's ass about whether or not depicting Mohammad insults or does not insult anyone - and for any one who does or is 'offended' by such there is a message for you and that is ... Get A Life!

If You Must Know

Why Shouldn't We Wear White After Labor Day?

The post–Labor Day moratorium on white clothing and accessories has long ranked among etiquette hard-liners' most sacred rules.

Full Story

Ways to boost credit and save

7 ways to boost credit and save

Some of these smart money tips take minimal effort but can save you a lot of cash.

U.S. loses 'most competitive' title

U.S. loses 'most competitive' title

For the first time, the U.S. falls to 2nd place in a poll of the world's most competitive economies. New No. 1
Also:

Unusual Holidays and Celebrations

Today is

International Literacy Day

and

World Physical Therapy Day.

Daily Almanac

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 8, the 251st day of 2009.

There are 114 days left in the year.

Today In History September 8

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Grenoble, Rhone-Alpes, France
Munich, Bayern, Germany
London, England, United Kingdom
Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Roermond, Limbur, Netherlands
Powell River, British Columbia, Canada
Chisinau, Chisinau, Moldova
Curitiba, Parna, Brazil
Copenhagen, Kobenhavn, Denmark

as well as Serbia, Scotland, and the United States

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

You have little time to achieve your mission: find a way to make your loved ones realize that working together on the same side is better for all parties concerned than keeping a nonsensical battle of wits going -- which won't help anyone at all.
That said, you can only do what you can do -- and you can't live anyone else's life for them.
So if they won't cooperate, don't beat yourself up about it.

Not to worry.