Welcome to ...

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, December 29, 2009

US appeals court nixes Vatican Bank Holocaust suit

An American appeals court on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by Holocaust survivors who alleged the Vatican bank accepted millions of dollars of their valuables stolen by Nazi sympathizers.

US appeals court nixes Vatican Bank Holocaust suit

Rare 'Blue Moon' To Occur New Year's Eve

Once in a blue moon there is one on New Year's Eve.

Rare 'Blue Moon' To Occur New Year's Eve

Question and Answer

Question: Did you hear about the dyslectic agnostic with insomnia?

Answer: He used to lay awake at night wondering if there really was a dog.

(You can't go wrong with the classics)

Repugican candidate runs ad citing 'rumors' opponent is gay

From the "You know it's bad when they attack each other" Department:

In a sign that the 2010 primary season is beginning to heat up, and is likely to get ugly, a repugican candidate for the Senate has "accused" a rival repugican of being a closeted homosexual.

Full Story

Looking at the repugican track record on this subject - it is most likely a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Iranian security forces intensify crackdown

Iranian security forces intensified their crackdown on anti-government supporters Tuesday, arresting relatives of the country's Nobel laureate and the main opposition leader, and limiting the movement of another top opposition leader.

Iranian security forces intensify crackdown

PETA worker neglected snakes in his care

Attorneys for an exotic animal dealer have accused an employee of intentionally neglecting animals to further his work as an undercover investigator for an animal rights group.

PETA worker neglected snakes in his care

Locals punch it out in Peru

Men, women and children face-off in bare-knuckle brawls in Cuzco to clear personal grievances ahead of New Year.

Locals punch it out in Peru

Funeral home offers drunk drivers a free burial

Planning to drink and drive this New Year's?
A north Georgia funeral home has a deal for you.

Full Story

Hippie Capitalists and Other Rare Wonders of the Modern World

You will learn there such tidbits as the fact that Mackey's dad was CEO of "a health-care company, which was sold ... for nearly a billion dollars," that "sometimes the store deploys 'dummies,' wooden or cardboard devices hidden under mounds of produce, to create an illusion of greater supply" , and much more than you probably ever want to know about ...

Hippie Capitalists and Other Rare Wonders of the Modern World

Another multi-million dollar payout at AIG?

American International Group Inc is preparing to pay its departing general counsel several million dollars in severance after she resigned over federal pay curbs, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The insurer determined that Anastasia Kelly was entitled to the money under the company's severance plan, whose terms say certain executives can resign and collect severance if their pay is reduced significantly, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

No one is running TSA, thanks to a GOP Senator b

This repugican Senator may very well have played a role in several hundred Americans nearly getting blown up on Christmas day.
If a Democrat had done this, the repugicans would make this entire issue about that Democrat.

From McClatchy:
An attempt to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day would be all-consuming for the administrator of the Transportation Security Administration — if there were one.

The post remains vacant because Sen. Jim DeMint, r-S.C., has held up President Barack Obama's nominee in opposition to the prospect of TSA workers joining a labor union.

Oceans Getting Louder Due to Rising CO2 Levels

From Treehugger:

louder oceans photo
Say that again? Speak up, I say. Photo via Moon Battery

Of all the consequences that rising levels of carbon dioxide emissions have wrought, this has to be one of the stranger ones: the world's oceans are getting louder. Yes, seas around the globe are becoming physically noisier. Here's how.

Man Sentenced in Killing & Eating China's Last Indo-Chinese Tiger

From Treehugger:

Indochinese Tiger

Photo: Cburnett (Wikipedia)
Threatened by habitat destruction and a lucrative black market trade in skins, bones and other body parts, a little bit of justice for tigers everywhere was meted out last week when villagers who killed and ate China's last Indochinese tiger were sentenced up to 12 years in prison and fined.

Species Must Run From Global Warming to Survive

From Treehugger:

animal tracks in mud photo

Photo via HummingLion Designs

As global temperatures rise, species across the world will have to, quite literally, run to stay alive. According to the latest research, 28.8% of the biomes of the earth will need to migrate at a rate greater than 1 kilometer per year to escape the heat, which is intensifying in a gradient band around the earth. Some organisms most sensitive to temperature changes will not be capable of outrunning the wave of climate change, destined to be made unfit for their new climate zone--leading to mass extinctions on a scale not seen since the last ice age.

Nine Astronomy Milestones in 2009

This year provided plenty of cosmic eye-openers for astronomers and casual stargazers alike. Neighborhood planets such as Mercury and Jupiter received makeovers in both a scientific and literal sense. The discovery of water on the moon and Mars provided clues to the past, not to mention hints for the future of space exploration. A class of newly-detected "Super-Earth" planets around alien stars may ultimately prove more habitable than Earth. And a growing fleet of existing, new and revived space telescopes promises another stellar year ahead.

Full Story

When saving costs you money

When saving costs you money

Low interest rates mean people are paying a high price for a safe place to put their money.

Options
Also:

'Hot stocks' that actually tanked

'Hot stocks' that actually tanked

Many of the most widely recommended stocks had terrible returns over this past decade.

North Korea confirms American in custody

North Korea confirms American in custody

The missionary's detention could cause a diplomatic headache for the U.S. and the volatile nation.

Suspect's apparent Web posts reveal angst

Suspect's apparent Web posts reveal angst

Emotions and ideals collide in 300 posts linked to the Detroit bomb suspect.

Researchers create see-through goldfish

Researchers create see-through goldfish

The "ryukin" goldfish's beating hearts are visible through their translucent skin and scales.

Broadcasters' woes threaten free TV

Broadcasters' woes threaten free TV

As their business model unravels, the big networks could ditch free broadcast signals entirely.

New uses for everyday things

101 new uses for everyday things

Sanitize with lemons, dry shoes using newspaper, or give your cat a dab of olive oil.

Secrets to picking breads for weight loss

Secrets to picking breads for weight loss

A simple trick can help you figure out which breads are lower in calories per slice.

Sea lions mysteriously vanish

Sea lions mysteriously vanish

One city's famous tourist spot has lost its main attraction, and nobody knows why.

Gifted 7-year-old boy paints like a master

Gifted 7-year-old boy paints like a master

Kieron Williamson's exhibition sold out in minutes and hundreds wait to buy his work.

Are artificial sweeteners unhealthy?

Are artificial sweeteners unhealthy?

See if there's any truth to the rumors that artificial sweeteners are bad for you.

Outback Steakhouse To Pay $19 Million To Settle Sex-Bias Lawsuit

Outback Steakhouse agreed to pay $19 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging sex discrimination against thousands of women at hundreds of its U.S. restaurants.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Outback discriminated against female employees and denied them equal opportunities for advancement.

The lawsuit, filed by the EEOC in federal court in Colorado in 2006, said female employees couldn't get promoted to the higher-level profit-sharing management positions in the restaurants and were denied favorable job assignments, particularly kitchen management experience, which was required for employees to be considered for the top management job.

"There are still too many glass ceilings left to shatter in workplaces throughout corporate America," said EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart Ishimaru.

"The EEOC will continue to bring class lawsuits like this one against employers who engage in gender discrimination on a systemic scale."

In addition to the money, the settlement requires that Outback launch an online application system for employees interested in managerial and other supervisory positions; hire a human resource executive in the newly created position of vice president of people; employ an outside consultant for at least two years who will determine compliance with the settlement terms and analyze data from the online application system to determine whether women have equal opportunities for promotion.

Blue Moon On New Year's Eve An Aphrodiasiac?

New Year's Eve for 2010 will be different, with the harbinger of a blue moon set to appear in the night sky to mark the occasion - that may bring with it the worst snowstorm of the season.

Blue Moon On New Year's Eve An Aphrodiasiac?

Jobs with increasing pay in 2010

Jobs with increasing pay in 2010

Not everyone should expect a salary bump next year, but things are looking up for 10 fields.

Repugican terror criticism backfires

Repugican terror criticism backfires

Repugicans blast the administration for intelligence and security failures — but the blame game backfires.

Why
Also:

Custody battle launched over Palin's grandson

Sarah Palin's oldest daughter has lost her bid to keep a bitter legal dispute with her 1-year-old son's father confidential.

Custody battle launched over Palin's grandson

Pot-stuffed teddy bear found at California toy store

Authorities say they confiscated a teddy bear at a Southern California toy store that was stuffed with marijuana.

Back to the Future

Acres of vacant land are eyed for urban agriculture under an ambitious plan that aims to turn the struggling Rust Belt city into a green mecca.

Reporting from Detroit – On the city’s east side, where auto workers once assembled cars by the millions, nature is taking back the land.

Cottonwood trees grow through the collapsed roofs of homes stripped clean for scrap metal. Wild grasses carpet the rusty shells of empty factories, now home to pheasants and wild turkeys.

This green veil is proof of how far this city has fallen from its industrial heyday and, to a small group of investors, a clear sign. Detroit, they say, needs to get back to what it was before Henry Ford moved to town: farmland. [...]

It is the size and scope of Hantz Farms that makes the project unique. Although company officials declined to pinpoint how many acres they might use, they have been quoted as saying that they plan to farm up to 5,000 acres within the Motor City’s limits in the coming years, raising organic lettuces, trees for biofuel and a variety of other things.

Investors see farms as way to grow Detroit

The Brain in 3D

3d maps of neuron connections

Van Wedeen, a Harvard radiology professor, is awestruck: “We’ve never really seen the brain – it’s been hiding in plain sight.” Conventional scanning has offered us a crude glimpse, but scientists such as Wedeen aim to produce the first ever three-dimensional map of all its neurons. They call this circuit diagram the “connectome”, and it could help us better understand everything from imagination and language to the miswirings that cause mental illness. But with 100 billion neurons hooked together by more connections than there are stars in the MilkyWay, the brain is a challenge that represents petabyte-level data.

Revealing the brain’s hidden connections

Getting to grips with why we slip

Whether ice, wet floors or banana skins are to blame, falling over is no laughing matter.
And explaining how it happens has friction aficionados floored.

Getting to grips with why we slip

Moving up

Just checked our ranking and we sit at 16,125.
We keep getting better and better.

World's Oldest Dog May Be Living In Greensboro, NC

A Greensboro woman is working to get her dog into the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest living dog.

World's Oldest Dog May Be Living In Greensboro, NC

Rcession hitting the courts

From the NY Times:
Contract disputes statewide in 2009 are projected to be up 9 percent from the year before. Statewide home foreclosure filings increased 17 percent, to 48,127 filings. Cases involving charges like assault by family members were up 18 percent statewide. While serious crime remains low, misdemeanor charges in New York City were up 7 percent and lesser violations were up 18 percent in 2009.

Judges and lawyers say the tales behind any number of cases, including low-level offenses like turnstile jumping and petty theft, are often a barometer of bad times. And they said that the data showed that courts nationally would be working through the recession’s consequences for years, much as they did with the flood of cases stemming from the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, even after the epidemic had slowed.
Although this piece deals with only one state it is indicative of a national trend precipitated by the disaster that was the shrub cabal.

Two al Qaeda Leaders Behind Northwest Flight 253 Terror Plot Were Released by the shrub in 2007 b

The Dick has some explaining to do.

The Gitmo detainees were sent to Saudi Arabia in 2007, where they underwent "art therapy," and then were set free.
But now the repugicans have a problem with President Obama wanting to try suspected terrorists in US courts.
Maybe if we promise the maximum sentence will be "art therapy," the repugicans will shut up.

Repugican hypocrisy laid bare ... yet again

Repugicans Who Opposed The Stimulus Continue To Pan It As A ‘Failure,’ While Also Taking Credit For Its Success

Every repugican in the House and nearly every repugican Senator voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also known as the stimulus).
Although the Congressional Budget Office has credited the stimulus with creating up to 1.6 million jobs, the same lying politicians who opposed the stimulus have attempted to justify their opposition to the policy by smearing it as a failure.
But as ThinkProgress has documented, the same lying politicians are returning to their districts to take credit for the economic success of the stimulus.

It's Not Scary to Swap Take-Out for Home Cooking With NoTakeOut Meal Planner

From Treehugger:

notakeout website image
Images via NoTakeOut

If you are resolving to cut back on take-out foods, but really aren't sure how taking over at the stovetop will go, there's a cool website that will help out. NoTakeOut plans your meal from each ingredient and tool needed down to every last step of preparation so you can take the kitchen by storm. And while the website doesn't purport to be a "green" option, it has a whole lot of potential for being just that.

Arrow Trucking Strands Drivers During Layoff

Layoffs are a fact of life in this economy, but there are humane ways to do it. Then there’s the Arrow Trucking Arrow Trucking method.

The Tulsa, Okla., trucking company stopped payment on the gas cards of its drivers, leaving some of them stranded Tuesday around the United States, miles from home. No explanation on the website. No one at the company answering phones.

The 200 or so employees at Arrow Trucking’s headquarters were told to pack up their belongings and go home Tuesday morning, according to the Tulsa World.

The only acknowledgment was a brief recorded message on the company’s main phone number, asking drivers of its Freightliner and Kenworth trucks to turn their rigs in to the nearest dealer and to call a special hotline to arrange for a bus ticket home. Drivers of the company’s Navistar trucks were told to call back for more information.

Arrow Trucking Strands Drivers During Layoff

Fury as China executes British citizen

Akmal Shaikh

Akmal Shaikh. Photograph: Reprieve/PA

China was this morning condemned for its human rights record after a British man who, his supporters say, had mental health problems, was executed for smuggling drugs.

Akmal Shaikh, 53, was put to death at 10.30am local time (2.30am British time) after frantic last-minute pleas for clemency by the Foreign Office failed.

Full Story

Unusual Holidays and Celebrations

Today is Tick Tock Day.

Daily Almanac

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 29, the 363rd day of 2009.

There are 2 days left in the year.

Today In History December 29

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Calcutta, West Bengal, India
Gorzow Wielkopolskie, Lubuskie, Poland
Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium
London, England, United Kingdom
Manila, Manila, Philippines
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Durgapur, West Bengal, India
Ringsted, Vestsjalland, Denmark
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Veldhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

Ready for the pace of life to change?
To pick up considerably?
Good, because that's what's happening.
Don't worry -- it will be fun, mostly because it's going to be your doing, and also because you've really been itching for a change for a long time.
So if a higher-up comes to you with what seems like a totally unexpected schedule shift, think for a second.
Weren't you really begging for this?

Wait a minute the pace picking up!?