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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.


Saturday, September 26, 2009

Chilly Willy


Chilly Willy in his first cartoon from 1953

Uninsured Young Woman Delays Treatment, Dies From Swine Flu

Kimberly Young, 22, died from swine flu on Wednesday.
Sadly, it has been reported that she delayed treatment due to a lack of health insurance. Although there's no guarantee that earlier treatment would have saved her life, it would be hard to find a more obvious example of the need to fix our broken health insurance system.

Rare Apple Is Half-Green, Half-Red

A fruit grower in England has produced a one-in-a-million apple.
Ken Morrish was stunned when he found a half-green, half-red golden delicious apple split exactly down the middle on his tree.

Rare Apple Is Half-Green, Half-Red

U.S. government's Internet disaster plan

U.S. government's Internet disaster plan

Politicians want the president to be able to protect the nation against a massive cyberattack.

Can the moon really make you loony?

Can the moon really make you loony?

Learn the truth behind the myths of how the moon influences your behavior.

Cars you can't drive in the U.S.

Cars you can't drive in the U.S.

At around $2,500, the Tata Nano is the world's cheapest car — too bad you can't get it in America.

More
Also:

Sparkman Found Naked, Bound, Gagged: Witness

More disturbing details continue to trick out in the apparent murder of Bill Sparkman, 51, part-time census worker who some feel was killed in an anti-government act. A witness has come forward and described the body, when found, as hanging in a rural Kentucky cemetery naked, gagged, with hands and feet bound with duct tape.

Full Story

Healthy habits that can backfire

Healthy habits that can backfire

Oversleeping on the weekends may cause you to wake up with a headache.

Real jobs you can do from home

Real jobs you can do from home

These businesses can earn you cash working in your spare time — and in your own home.

Most expensive autos to insure

Most expensive autos to insure

If you own any of these models, be prepared to pay a lot more for car insurance.

Where Americans are uprooting

Where Americans are uprooting

U.S. residents are leaving two big sunny states in droves and heading to unexpected places.

Girlfriend charged in 17-year-old's murder

A 26-year-old Kannapolis, NC, woman has been charged with murder after an altercation between her father and boyfriend.

Emily Ann Howard, of 2118 Lynn Street in Kannapolis, was charged after Dustin Garren Lee, 17, also of Kannapolis, died from stab wounds he received during a disturbance at the home the two shared with Howard's father, according to the Rowan County Sheriff's Department.

Early Thursday morning, deputies were dispatched to the residance to investigate a reported disturbance, according to Capt. John Sifford of the Rowan County Sheriff's Office.

A second 911 call came in, and deputies were advised that a person had been stabbed at the same address.

Deputies were met at the scene by Howard and her father, William Dwight Howard, 54.

Emily told deputies she stabbed Lee while defending her father.

Emily and Lee were boyfriend and girlfriend, according to Sifford.

EMS and the Mt. Mitchell Fire Department treated Lee at the scene and transported him to CMC-NorthEast, where he died from the wounds inflicted, Sifford said.

Howard is in the Rowan County Detention Center under no bond.

*****

The question is ... why does a 26-year-old woman have a 17-year-old boy for a boyfriend, anyway?

How four people survived disaster

How four people survived disaster

These quick thinkers found amazing ways out of the world's worst situations.

Memory and IQ studies stir the Web

Memory and IQ studies stir the Web

Six people who remember almost everything and an IQ study captivate the Internet.

Top Ten


The Prime Minister of New Zealand delivers the Top Ten Reasons to visit New Zealand on the Late Show.

"50 People Who Matter Today"

Pakistan Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Kayani has been ranked higher than Pope Benedict XVI and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in a list published by a British political magazine, which highlights 50 individuals who have been instrumental in having an impact in today's scenario around the world.

Pakistan Chief of Army Staff in list of "50 People Who Matter Today"

Well, ranking higher than the pope isn't hard to do ... a pile of cow-patties ranks higher.
But still impressive.

Ugandan gorillas get friendly on Facebook

No, it's not the ex-boyfriend. It's Muhozi, an endangered Ugandan mountain gorilla, who's appearing online as part of a fundraising program the Ugandan Wildlife Authority is launching Saturday to help save the species.

Ugandan gorillas get friendly on Facebook

Woman tries to sell kid for gas

According to Melbourne, Florida, police a 37-year-old woman was arrested on a child-neglect charge Friday afternoon after a tow truck driver told police the mother offered to sell her child in exchange for gas money.

Woman tries to sell kid for gas

AT&T calls for FCC action on Google

This is the Pot Calling the Kettle Black


AT&T, the largest US telecommunications group, called on federal regulators to force Google, the internet search and advertising giant, to “play by the same rules as its competitors” and ensure that its Google Voice application does not block calls to some rural areas.

The call, which came in a strongly worded letter from AT&T to the Federal Communications Commission’s competition bureau was signed by Robert Quinn, AT&T’s senior vice president for federal regulations. It marks a significant escalation in the dispute over Google Voice and proposed new rules on “net-neutrality.”

The FCC is already investigating Apple’s decision to reject the Google Voice application for the iPhone which enables customers to send and receive calls from a single telephone number on multiple devices and access voice mail. AT&T is the exclusive provider for the iPhone in the US.

Last week, Julius Genachowski, FCC chairman, proposed new rules requiring operators to open their networks to any legitimate internet content or service without discrimination. If adopted, the move would be a victory for big internet companies at the expense of network operators.

AT&T and other traditional US carriers have argued that the existing net neutrality guidelines are sufficient and some have rejected the need to extend them to mobile services. Carriers argue that they want the flexibility of being able to protect their networks from bandwidth-hogging applications including video services.

In its letter on Friday, AT&T described Google as “one of the most troublesome trumpeters of so-called net-neutrality” regulation, but said it failed to abide by “level playing-field” principles “at least when it comes to its own services.”

AT&T noted that numerous press reports have suggested that Google “is systematically blocking telephone calls from consumers that use Google Voice to call telephone numbers in certain rural areas.”

By blocking these calls, AT&T claimed that Google is able to reduce its access expenses while, “other providers, including those with which Google Voice competes, are banned from call blocking” by a 2007 FCC ruling.

The dispute over Google Voice has at its core, an argument over whether Google Voice is a telecommunications service, and therefore subject to regulation or, as Google maintains, “an online software tool” and therefore outside the regulatory framework.

However AT&T contends that even if Google Voice is an application, it is still bound by the Commission’s Internet Policy Statement principles. ”To the extent ’net neutrality’ is animated by a concern about ostensible internet ’gatekeepers,’ that concern must necessarily apply to application, service, and content providers,” said Mr Quinn.

Wing nuts in apoplectic tizzy after video shows NJ elementary school kids singing President Obama's praises

A school for kindergartners through second-graders in a comfortable Philadelphia suburb has become the latest target of accusations by wing nuts that schoolchildren are being indoctrinated to idolize President Barack Obama.

Oh, and like they didn't try to have all the little kiddies perverted into thinking (not thinking, actually) that the shrub was the messiah?

Full Story

Saturday Jam

Today's Saturday Jam includes:

Circle Sky
Monkees

Shapes Of Things
Yardbirds

When I Was Young
Animals

President Obama's Weekly Address


Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
September 26, 2009

This week, I joined leaders from around the world at the United Nations and the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh. Today, I can report on what we achieved—a new commitment to meet common challenges, and real progress in advancing America’s national security and economic prosperity.

As I said at the U.N., over the past nine months my administration has renewed American leadership, and pursued a new era of engagement in which we call upon all nations to live up to their responsibilities. This week, our engagement produced tangible results in several areas.

In Pittsburgh, the world’s major economies agreed to continue our effort to spur global demand to put our people back to work. We committed ourselves to economic growth that is balanced and sustained— so that we avoid the booms and busts of the past. We reached an historic agreement to reform the global financial system—to promote responsibility and prevent abuse so that we never face a crisis like this again. And we reformed our international economic architecture, so that we can better coordinate our effort to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

We also established American leadership in the global pursuit of the clean energy of the 21st century. I am proud that the G-20 nations agreed to phase out $300 billion worth of fossil fuel subsidies. This will increase our energy security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, combat the threat of climate change, and help create the new jobs and industries of the future.

In New York, we advanced the cause of peace and security. I joined the first meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in nearly a year—a meeting that even nine months ago did not seem possible. And we resolved to move forward in the journey toward a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

We also took unprecedented steps to secure loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to seek a world without them. As the first U.S. president to ever chair a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, I was proud that the Council passed an historic and unanimous resolution embracing the comprehensive strategy I outlined this year in Prague.

To prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists, the Security Council endorsed our global effort to lock down all vulnerable material within four years. We reaffirmed the basic compact of the global nonproliferation regime: all nations have the right to peaceful nuclear energy; nations with nuclear weapons have the responsibility to move toward disarmament; and nations without them have the responsibility to forsake them.

The United States is meeting our responsibilities by pursuing an agreement with Russia to reduce our strategic warheads and launchers. And just as we meet our responsibilities, so must other nations, including Iran and North Korea.

Earlier this year, we imposed tough, new, sanctions on North Korea to stop their efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. And we will continue to stand with our allies and partners to press North Korea to move in a new direction.

This week, we joined with the United Kingdom and France in presenting evidence that Iran has been building a secret nuclear facility to enrich uranium. This is a serious challenge to the global nonproliferation regime, and continues a disturbing pattern of Iranian evasion. That is why international negotiations with Iran scheduled for October 1st now take on added urgency.

My offer of a serious, meaningful dialogue to resolve this issue remains open. But Iran must now cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and take action to demonstrate its peaceful intentions.

On this, the international community is more united than ever before. Yesterday, I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with our European allies in condemning Iran’s program. In our meetings and public statements, President Medvedev of Russia and I agreed that Iran must pursue a new course or face consequences. All of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and Germany, have made it clear that Iran must fulfill its responsibilities.

Iran’s leaders must now choose – they can live up to their responsibilities and achieve integration with the community of nations. Or they will face increased pressure and isolation, and deny opportunity to their own people.

These are the urgent threats of our time. And the United States is committed to a new chapter of international cooperation to meet them. This new chapter will not be written in one week or even one year. But we have begun. And for the American people and the people of the world, it will mean greater security and prosperity for years to come.

Unusual Holidays and Celebrations

Today is

Fish Amnesty Day,
Hunting and Fishing Day,
Shamu the Whale Day,
and
National Public Lands Day

Daily Almanac

Today is Saturday, Sept. 26, the 269th day of 2009.

There are 96 days left in the year.

Today in History, September 26.

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Tripoli, Tarabulus, Libya
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
London, England, United Kingdom
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Vienna, Wien, Austria
Phitsanulok, Phitsanulok, Thailand
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Hyderbad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

If you're putting negative energy into a tricky situation at work or school, then how on earth are you going to ever have a positive outcome?
You have to work for the good of everyone, not just yourself, right now.
Acting out of spite, jealousy or greed might get you an instant payoff, but farther on down the road it is going to cost you big.
So be altruistic in every situation and try to consider others.
When you do that, they will consider your needs later.

The only problem with that is they don't.