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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, August 17, 2010

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:
An unexpected message comes your way, so keep your eyes and ears open -- as well as your IM window and your inbox.
You may be thinking about the long-term, and the universe is making big plans for you that you had no idea were in motion.
The more open your mind is, the better!
While it might not seem quite perfect at first glance, it should certainly grow on you quickly.

Today is:
Today is Tuesday, August 17, the 229th day of 2010.
There are 136 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
National Thrift Shop Day

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Leave it to the Irish

Murphy applied for a fermentation operator post at a famous Irish firm
based in Dublin .

A Pole applied for the same job and since both
applicants had similar qualifications, they were asked to take a test
by the Manager.

When the results were in, both men had scored 19 out of 20.

The manager went to Murphy and said, "Thank you for coming to the
interview, but we’ve decided to give the Pole the job."
Murphy, "And why would you be doing that? We both got 19 questions
correct. This being Ireland and me being Irish surely I should get the
job."
Manager, " We have made our decision not on the correct answers, but on
the question you got wrong."

Murphy, " And just how would one incorrect answer be better than
another?"

Manager, " Simple. On question number 7 the Pole wrote down, 'I don’t
know.' You put down, ‘Neither do I’.

Upping the cute factor

This otter and his stone is upping the cute factor for us today.

John Lennon letter arrives after 34 years

A British folk singer finally reads the letter that the Beatle sent him decades ago.
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A third of adults ‘still take teddy bear to bed’

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More than a third of adults still hug a teddy bear while falling asleep, according to a new survey. More than half of Britons still have a teddy bear from childhood and the average teddy bear is 27 years old, the poll found. Travelodge, the hotel chain, surveyed 6,000 British adults and found that respondents said sleeping with a teddy a "comforting and calming" way to end the day.

The survey also found that 25% of men said they even took their teddy away with them on business because it reminded them of home. Travelodge said that in the past year staff have reunited more than 75,000 teddies and their owners.


Spokesman Shakila Ahmed said: "Interestingly the owners have not just been children, we have had a large number of frantic businessmen and women call us regarding their forgotten teddy bear." Corrine Sweet, a psychologist, said cuddling a teddy bear was an "important part of our national psyche".

She said: "It evokes a sense of peace, security and comfort. It's human nature to crave these feelings from childhood to adult life. It's not surprising, then, that taking a teddy bear on a business trip is popular. As a bedtime bear evokes feelings of home, warmth, and can help you nod off - just like in babyhood." The study also found that the traditional teddy bear was the most popular cuddly toy among adults, with Winnie the Pooh second and Paddington Bear third.

Why Did Dutch People Wear Wooden Shoes?

Nowadays wooden clogs are largely sold in the Netherlands as tourist souvenirs, but have you ever wondered why someone would intentionally want to walk around in shoes that could give you a splinter?
The answer goes back to the country’s name, Neterlands roughly translates into “low lands,” which describes most of the terrain in the area. Because the country is filled with so many low lands, the ground was largely boggy and wet and leather shoes would become easily ruined and could not adequately protect the wearer’s feet from becoming damp. Wooden shoes on the other, were sturdy, could survive the muck and were better at keeping feet dry.
These days they are considered good safety shoes as they are difficult to crush or penetrate. They’re also good for kicking butt, as you can tell from this great Jackie Chan clip.
That'll learn ya.

Qusimodo was a real person

Notre Dame's hunchback had another job before becoming a bell-ringer, new research shows.
Also: 

The Amazing Monasteries Of Bhutan


Bhutan is still something of a mystery to many - this landlocked country is often overlooked by its larger and better known neighbors India and Tibet. However, the country, with a tiny population of only 700.000 people, has a rich history - and over 40 Buddhist monasteries.

Confucius says ...

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It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop.
The Wisdom of Confucius


We are running out of Bacon

The price of pork bellies, from which bacon is made, has shot up from 94 cents per pound as recently as June to $1.40 per pound in August.

In stores, average retail prices have risen by more than $1 per pound since last year, to more than $4, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported.

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Market analysts said the reason for the suddenly high prices is simple shortage: A year ago, 76.3 million pounds of pork bellies were in various commercial freezers around the country. In early August of this year, that storage figure had dropped to 35.4 million pounds.

Accroches-toi a ton reve

As Jeff Lynne would say ...

Accroches-toi a ton reve
Accroches-toi a ton reve
Quand tu vois ton bateau partir
Quand tu sents -- ton coeur se briser
Accroches-toi a ton reve.

English Professor Kicked out of Starbucks for Refusing to Use Starbucks' Jargon

Despite her obvious lack of taste - she was in a Starbucks' in the first place - hooray for her!

Lynn Rosenthal, a college professor of English, is a stickler for correct grammar. She doesn’t approve of Starbucks’ word usage, and after an argument with a barista, she was forcibly removed from a Starbucks location in New York City:
“I just wanted a multigrain bagel,” Rosenthal told The Post. “I refused to say ‘without butter or cheese.’ When you go to Burger King, you don’t have to list the six things you don’t want.
“Linguistically, it’s stupid, and I’m a stickler for correct English.”
Rosenthal admitted she had run into trouble before for refusing to employ the chain’s stilted lexicon — balking at ordering a “tall” or a “venti” from the menu or specifying “no whip.”
Instead, she insists on making a pest of herself by ordering a “small” or “large” cup of joe.

What does it mean

All new automobiles are now required to include this warning light on dashboards. 
Also: 

What is a Ph.D.?

Matt Might, a professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah, created a set of circular diagrams to explain the significance and impact of a doctoral degree. He uses them to explain to incoming doctoral students what they’re pursuing. The first, a circle, represents the sum of all human knowledge. Click on the link to view the sequence.

Having a Ph.D., degree myself, I can say the graphic illustration as to just what a "Piled High and Deep" degree is, is spot on.

The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2014

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The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2014

Most students entering college for the first time this fall—the Class of 2014—were born in 1992.
For these students, Benny Hill, Sam Kinison, Sam Walton, Bert Parks and Tony Perkins have always been dead.
1. Few in the class know how to write in cursive.
2. Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail.
3. “Go West, Young College Grad” has always implied “and don’t stop until you get to Asia…and learn Chinese along the way.”
4. Al Gore has always been animated.
5. Los Angelinos have always been trying to get along.
6. Buffy has always been meeting her obligations to hunt down Lothos and the other blood-suckers at Hemery High.
7. “Caramel macchiato” and “venti half-caf vanilla latte” have always been street corner lingo.
8. With increasing numbers of ramps, Braille signs, and handicapped parking spaces, the world has always been trying harder to accommodate people with disabilities.
9. Had it remained operational, the villainous computer HAL could be their college classmate this fall, but they have a better chance of running into Miley Cyrus’s folks on Parents’ Weekend.
10. A quarter of the class has at least one immigrant parent, and the immigration debate is not a big priority…unless it involves “real” aliens from another planet.
11. John McEnroe has never played professional tennis.
12. Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.
13. Parents and teachers feared that Beavis and Butt-head might be the voice of a lost generation.
14. Doctor Kevorkian has never been licensed to practice medicine.
15. Colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn to indicate support for a cause.
16. Korean cars have always been a staple on American highways.
17. Trading Chocolate the Moose for Patti the Platypus helped build their Beanie Baby collection.
18. Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess.
19. They never twisted the coiled handset wire aimlessly around their wrists while chatting on the phone.
20. DNA fingerprinting and maps of the human genome have always existed.
21. Woody Allen, whose heart has wanted what it wanted, has always been with Soon-Yi Previn.
22. Cross-burning has always been deemed protected speech.
23. Leasing has always allowed the folks to upgrade their tastes in cars.
24. “Cop Killer” by rapper Ice-T has never been available on a recording.
25. Leno and Letterman have always been trading insults on opposing networks.
26. Unless they found one in their grandparents’ closet, they have never seen a carousel of Kodachrome slides.
27. Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive.
28. They’ve never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day.
29. Reggie Jackson has always been enshrined in Cooperstown.
30. “Viewer Discretion” has always been an available warning on TV shows.
31. The first computer they probably touched was an Apple II; it is now in a museum.
32. Czechoslovakia has never existed.
33. Second-hand smoke has always been an official carcinogen.
34. “Assisted Living” has always been replacing nursing homes, while Hospice has always been an alternative to hospitals.
35. Once they got through security, going to the airport has always resembled going to the mall.
36. Adhesive strips have always been available in varying skin tones.
37. Whatever their parents may have thought about the year they were born, Queen Elizabeth declared it an “Annus Horribilis.”
38. Bud Selig has always been the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
39. Pizza jockeys from Domino’s have never killed themselves to get your pizza there in under 30 minutes.
40. There have always been HIV positive athletes in the Olympics.
41. American companies have always done business in Vietnam.
42. Potato has always ended in an “e” in New Jersey per vice presidential edict.
43. Russians and Americans have always been living together in space.
44. The dominance of television news by the three networks passed while they were still in their cribs.
45. They have always had a chance to do community service with local and federal programs to earn money for college.
46. Nirvana is on the classic oldies station.
47. Children have always been trying to divorce their parents.
48. Someone has always gotten married in space.
49. While they were babbling in strollers, there was already a female Poet Laureate of the United States.
50. Toothpaste tubes have always stood up on their caps.
51.  Food has always been irradiated.
52. There have always been women priests in the Anglican Church.
53. J.R. Ewing has always been dead and gone. Hasn’t he? 
54. The historic bridge at Mostar in Bosnia has always been a copy.
55. Rock bands have always played at presidential inaugural parties.
56. They may have assumed that parents’ complaints about Black Monday had to do with punk rockers from L.A., not Wall Street.
57. A purple dinosaur has always supplanted Barney Google and Barney Fife. 
58. Beethoven has always been a dog.
59. By the time their folks might have noticed Coca Cola’s new Tab Clear, it was gone.
60. Walmart has never sold handguns over the counter in the lower 48.
61. Presidential appointees have always been required to be more precise about paying their nannies’ withholding tax, or else.
62. Having hundreds of cable channels but nothing to watch has always been routine. 
63. Their parents’ favorite TV sitcoms have always been showing up as movies.
64. The U.S, Canada, and Mexico have always agreed to trade freely.
65. They first met Michelangelo when he was just a computer virus.
66. Galileo is forgiven and welcome back into the Roman Catholic Church.
67. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has always sat on the Supreme Court.
68. They have never worried about a Russian missile strike on the U.S.
69. The Post Office has always been going broke.
70. The artist formerly known as Snoop Doggy Dogg has always been rapping.
71. The nation has never approved of the job Congress is doing.
72. One way or another, “It’s the economy, stupid” and always has been.
73. Silicone-gel breast implants have always been regulated.
74. They’ve always been able to blast off with the Sci-Fi Channel.
75. Honda has always been a major competitor on Memorial Day at Indianapolis.
Princeton falls to second place in the annual rankings by U.S. News & World Report.  
Also: 

'Meh' Button Spreads Across Internet

A San Francisco tech developer said the "meh" button, a feature similar to Facebook's "like" button with an opposite opinion, has taken off in popularity.

How to Access the Internet (A Guide from 2025)

Welcome to the Internet! By following the simple rules below, you make sure your internet experience is smooth and risk free.

RealIdentity

Before signing on, please ensure you have received your RealIdentity card from local authorities. Signing on to the internet without identifying yourself has been ruled illegal in the Stop Anonymity Act of 2012, and you need to be sure to associate your comments, emails, posts and more with your real name. Setting up your RealIdentity is easy, as your computer (MacOS 15 or ChromeOS7 and higher) will automatically connect to your near-by card, verifying it with your biometric data. Do not put on shades, veils, contact lenses, and please shave before the biometric scan starts; it is advised to not perform biometric authentication after a long night of drinking.

Geolocation

The internet is split into roughly 120 country regions. This is to ensure that fitting entertaining content will be streamed to you, and that you will not find content that may be unsettling. Your Geolocation should be automatically derived from the position of your point of login – if it matches with the country provided in your RealIdentity card, you’re ready to go. Users from the US may enjoy great copyrighted US TV show reruns like Friends 2020, for instance, while users in other countries may have different tastes and preferences.
As a note for travellers: Before planning your trip to another country, make sure you apply for a Geolocation Visa in order to surf from internet cafes within that country. Alternatively, you can also jump into your cybersuit and just enjoy the other country through Google Street View 3D Plus Touch. Google Street View 3D Plus Touch will only show you those things from the other country which are legal in your location, so it’s a great, risk-free and streamlined experience to get to know other exciting cultures.

Signing Up for the Right Internet

Many content offerings depend on the internet you’ve signed up to. If you’ve signed up with the GoogleAppleAmazon Internet, then you have one-click access to a great digital library, many movies, as well as a certain approved set of homemade web pages. If you’ve signed up with the DisneyWarnerBrosViacom internet, you get a different digital library, set of movies, and approved homemade web pages.
While we cannot specifically recommend one internet over the other, the goo:// internet is great for research and mindless entertainment (talking dogs), whereas dis:// has the faster movie experience. Buffering the 50 Terabyte Feel3D movie Wall-E Jr. Returns for smooth playback and touch takes only 0.1 seconds.

Adult Content

If your RealIdentity identifies you as being over 21 years of age (30 in some countries), you are of the legal age to view adult content. Adult content includes pornography, unmoderated forum discussions, as well as political discourse, religious counter-views, artistic expression, and free speech in general. If you are below 21 years (30 in some countries), you can still discuss politics and religion with your family, and you are free to artistic expression in your own house (local terms and conditions apply).

Acquiring Your Internet Surfing License

Getting your Internet Surfing License is a necessary prerequisite in making the web safe for everyone. Before governments made the ISL mandatory, people often found themselves lost in the myriad of web sites, naively double-clicking Hit The Monkey to Win iPad ads, finding themselves spammed by pop-unders. Acquiring the license typically takes only between 2-5 days of education by your local Surf Training School. You will need to carefully prepare for the final test, in which you are required to answer simple questions like:
  • What is a pyramid scheme, and do they really work?
  • How do I replace the solar cells on my cyber glove?
  • Why exactly is it bad for people to badmouth their governments or big companies online?
  • Why is it illegal to surf without a RealIdentity card?
  • In which year did Google buy the internet?

Product Placement

As you may know, product placement and paid product mentions in videos and text replaced all other forms of advertisement. Keep in mind – without such product placement, the internet as we know it could not be paid for, and would not exist! All major content providers agreed to switch to product placement instead of separated forms of advertisement in 2014, and since 2019, your government’s politicians in over 80 countries are on board too, peppering their political speeches with commercial references. This allows you to pay less taxes, so it’s a win-win situation.

Technical Jargon

Sometimes you will run across abbreviations specific to the internet. If you’re not used to this tech speak, keep this glossary within reach or load it into your brain extension module. Some key words are:
  • WWW - Literally “World Wide Web”, an expression used in the beginnings of the web. It has since grown out of use but is still heard by certain older netizens. Like communism, it was an appealing yet completely unrealistic idea.
  • Virus - A virus, often called “computer virus” by oldtimers, is a program entering through your brain chip and meant to stimulate your commercial desires. If you find yourself in the supermarket with the sudden urge to buy enormous amounts of a certain brand of cereals, it might be due to such a “computer virus.” These programs are clearly illegal; stimulating commercial desires via brain chips is required to be opt-in, and has a minimum legal age of 6.
  • LOL - The word by word meaning of this abbreviation has been lost in history – you may remember that the 2015 CleanUpTheNet Act accidentally deleted quite a bit of archive material – though it is generally interpreted as a form of laughter (it has also replaced Bless You as a reply to when someone sneezes).

Earning Money on the Internet

There are many ways to earn money on the internet. Here is just a brief overview of some of the legal activities that can earn you a dollar or two:
  • If you can get a job as a BrainWorker, you will answer simple semi-automated questions like “Is the person depicted in the photo male or female" for 8 hours a day. Answering questions like these will help you power the algorithms of datacrunching companies like Google.
  • If you’re lucky to score the high-paid job of an Idea Placer, you will be entering the parts of the internet where you can add comments or enter chats, influencing others by mentioning how great a product, idea or person is. The US government alone employs around 150,000 Idea Placers around the web.
  • Work as a Content Rewriter. Every day, new non-localized articles, images, news bits and user comments are entering the internet. Before they can be successfully deployed to the localized versions of the net, they need to be rewritten to meet local cultural and legal requirements. As a Content Rewriter, it is your job to know these requirements and change content accordingly, removing the unsettling parts or rewording those facts and bits which may cause cognitive dissonance with consumers.

Finding a Partner

Are you single and looking for the right partner? Based on your biometric data, your income, your location, as well as the Overall Attitude (OA) results from your Internet Surfing License, anywhere from 10-100 people in your area will be suggested to you. At first, meeting all of them may seem a tedious way to find your true love – who has the time to get to know 10 people if it cannot be assured they are definitely Mr., Mrs. or Rbt. Right? – but keep in mind: your grandmother’s generation had none of these tools available, and they still managed to fall in love.

Stumbling Upon Illegal Content

As safe as the internet is today, there may still be a time when you stumble upon content that you may deem unnecessarily unsettling. Perhaps a report of political issues in a foreign nation is shocking to you; perhaps there’s a bit of accidental nudity which slipped through; perhaps you’ve downloaded a version of a book from 1990 before a Content Rewriter had a chance to change it. Make sure you report these pages to your local internet authorities by using your OS’s Flag button. A team of internet professionals may get back to you with further inquiries if necessary, and also meet you at your home to take a look at your current internet surfing hardware setup and general mental stability.

It’s Easier Than It Seems

With so much information that seems to be necessary to take your first online steps, we don’t want you to be frightened to enter the internet. The web is a relaxing, streamlined and harmonious experience. Decades ago, when the web was invented, it was a place of free roaming chaos. Differing viewpoints, an abundance of copyright infringements, non-localized content, anonymous smear campaigns, unapproved software and more roamed the WWW. Compared to then, we’re truly lucky to be accessing the internet in 2025, not 1995. Welcome to the net, and enjoy your stay!

Top 10 Ways Your Brain Is Sabotaging You (And How To Beat It)


An unexamined brain is a tricky thing to carry around. You've got unintentional biases, marketing weaknesses, 'overclocking' issues, and all kinds of other mental bugs you may not know about.

Here's a helpful list of the mind's weird ways.

Our Brains On Tech

Neuroscientists go outdoors and unplug to study the impact of incessant digital input.
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Ziggy

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Minnesota in 'Tornado Alley'?

This year, Minnesota had more tornadoes than any other state. If you aren't familiar with normal tornado distribution patterns, that fact is pretty surprising. It's also more than just a weird, one-time anomaly. Experts say this years' numbers seem to be part of a pattern of tornado activity becoming more common in more northerly places. Perennial champion Texas isn't throwing in the towel—it's been the tornado capital for 7 of the last 10 years—but Minnesota seems to be becoming a part of the "Tornado Alley" states, a big change from past precedent.

The State Of The Nation

The State Of The Nation
Prisoners' surging medical expenses are forcing cash-strapped states to consider extreme solutions.  
Also: 

World population soars

Some U.S. states and African nations are poised to see the biggest gains.  
Also: 

As The World Turns

As The World Turns
The flooding is more destructive than the 2004 tsunami, the U.N. says — so why is the world so slow to react?
Also: 
A trade group declares that 900,000 carats from two mines in Zimbabwe are tainted. 
Also: 
Images of an Israeli woman posing with Palestinian prisoners draw fire from all sides. 
Also: 

Are We Underestimating Mt. Vesuvius?

vesuvius

Everything we know about how the fabled volcano killed the citizens of Pompeii might be wrong.

Culinary DeLites

Culinary DeLites
The beans and eggplant in this quick dish aren't just flavorful, they're also packed with nutrients.  
Also: 
Fans flock to a Midwestern state fair to try the sweet-and-salty cheeseburgers.
Also: 
Tasteless and slippery, the pricey dish has long been popular as a status symbol.  
Also: 

Hide from online friends you don't like

Make your Facebook posts a little more private with these profile settings.  
Also: 

Helpful Hints

Helpful Hints
Use the versatile crystals to test eggs' freshness and to make your toothbrush last longer.  
Also: 
To help stave off wrinkles, dullness, and breakouts, fill your cart with these foods.  
Also: 

It's The Economy Stupid

It's The Economy Stupid
The economy faces a major threat as our largest generation retires with smaller savings.  
Also:
One extremely important factor is your utilization ratio, which measures your debt level. 
Also: 

Shrimpers Stalling

Oil-tainted shrimp and a health scare fallout have gotten business off to a slow start in Louisiana.  
Also: 

Non Sequitur

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Supreme Court refuses to block fine in birther case

The Original "Anchor Babies"

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Fatal crash driver sues victim's family

From the "This is whack" Department:

A woman charged with deliberately causing a fatal car crash is suing the family of a pregnant woman who died in the collision. 
Justine Winter, who was 16 at the time of the crash, allegedly ploughed head-on into another vehicle on purpose in a suicide attempt.
Erin Thompson, 35, and her 13-year-old son Caden Odell, were traveling in the other car and were both killed in the crash on Montana's Highway 93.
Winter was later charged over the crash, with prosecutors claiming it was a suicide attempt that occurred less than an hour after she broke up with her boyfriend.

According to ABC News, the bulk of their case rests on a series of text messages sent from her phone to her ex-boyfriend just minutes before the crash.
"If I won, I would have you ... and I wouldn't crash my car," one text message reads.
Another reads: "That's why I'm going to wreck my car. Because all I can do is f*** up. Because I am a terrible person and I know it."

But now Winter is now suing the family of Thompson, who was pregnant at the time of the crash, saying that she was driving negligently.
The lawsuit claims Winter suffered permanent injuries in the crash and a "loss of capacity to enjoy life".
She is also claiming past, present and future medical expenses and a future loss of income.
The lawsuit also names three companies that are responsible for maintaining the highway, claiming they failed to do their jobs properly because the highway was under construction at the time of the crash.

Flathead County Attorney Ed Corrigan, who is leading the criminal case against Winter, said he was concerned the lawsuit would "inflame the public".
"I wouldn't be surprised if it was an effort on their part to force a change of venue or put pressure on the state to get it settled," he said.
"I can't speculate on what they're thinking, but it could be strategy of some sort."

Massachusetts man fakes death to avoid trial

From the "A bit extreme don't you think" Department:

Massachusetts authorities are searching for a man they say faked his death to beat charges of driving without a license.

Secret 9/11 Plotter Tapes

Secret recordings may offer glimpse into "black prisons" and throw a wrench in suspect's trial.
Also: 

Bad Cops

Bad Cops






'Hallowed Ground' of the Ground Zero Mosque Lined With Strip Clubs, OTB

The proposed "Ground Zero mosque" has caused more outrage than when Katz's Deli tried to open their Tehran location. It has elicited comments from Mayor Bloomberg, the White House and the always-enlightening Sarah Palin Twitter feed.

And though many of those comments came from politicians whose closest encounter with New York was ordering the Manhattan clam chowder at a Ponderosa Steakhouse, the country has followed many of them to the battlefields.

In response, New York City resident Daryl Lang has illustrated that the Ground Zero area, contrary to what people say, is not a sacred piece of Manhattan landscape. In his recent photo montage, caustically titled "Hallowed Ground," Lang shows that life in lower Manhattan is just as unscrupulous as any other portion of the city.

"I wanted to show the disconnect between how New Yorkers see lower Manhattan and how politicians keep describing it." explains Lang. Within these photos are New York Dolls Gentleman's Club, the Park Place OTB, and some more vulgar Manhattan establishments, like Dunkin Donuts.

"I hope it adds to the conversation and makes the point I intended," notes Lang. "We should stand above fear and intolerance." Perhaps he should tweet that to @SarahPalinUSA.

Check out the photos here.

Property developer trying to destroy vital seed bank

Twelve Russian scientists famously chose to starve to death rather than eat the unique collection of seeds and plants they were protecting for humanity during the 900-day siege of Leningrad in the second world war. But the world's first global seed bank now faces destruction once more, to make way for a private housing estate.

The fate of the Pavlovsk agricultural station outside St Petersburg will be decided in the courts this week. If, as expected, the case goes against it then the collection of plants built up over 85 years could be destroyed within months.

***

Thanks to a Twitter campaign, the president of Russia has stepped in.

Lunatic Fringe

Lunatic Fringe
Otherwise know as the Seditionists
When dealing with wingnuts ... Remember the rule: 
If they accuse someone of something, then they're already guilty of it.
Liars and Fools

Steve King (reptile-Iowa) panders to bigots, lies: Obama is "a Marxist" who "doesn’t have an American experience".
Come again, can you really be that stupid? Oh, wait, I forget myself, yes, you can be that stupid, my bad.

Wingnut loudmouth Lush Dimbulb lies: President Obama "will never acknowledge that this is a great country".
Wrong, but he does, oh but he does, else you'd be in prison right now you syphilitic lard-ass. 

Un-American Anti-Family Assholes spewing head Bryan Fischer lies: New York Governor wants to impose Sharia law.
First you must understand what Sharia Law is ... because if you did you would not be making such an ass of yourself (on this topic at least).

Wingnut's violent rhetoric is increasingly common.
Don't know about the increasingly common part - their violent rhetoric has always been forefront as have their violent actions.

Wingnut spewing head Oliver North writes that if [humanists] fully understood the long-term threat to their civilization that our ideas post, would we wise to take steps to crush us.
That doesn't even make sense as a sentence, but then again it is a wingnut we're talking about.

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You know it's going to be a bad day when ...

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Hello, is anybody home?
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Meet 10 of The World's Most Famous Trees

lone cypress photo  
Photo via =Manu=
They're rigid. They're quiet. They don't travel much. But that hasn't stopped some of the world's most famous trees from achieving celebrity status. These trees have led some long and fascinating lives -- intermingling with notable figures throughout history and inspiring people for ages.
Whether it be for visiting the moon or getting a shout-out in the Bible, some trees have careers enviable to even the biggest stars around. And the best part of all? They did it all without batting a knot-hole or lifting a limb.
Meet 10 of The World's Most Famous Trees

Science News

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Humans may have been responsible for driving giant turtles to extinction 3,000 years ago, according to a new study.

World's oldest animal fossils 

Fossilized sponges dating from 650 million years ago add support to the theory that life kick-started Snowball Earth

Liger cubs land Zoo in hot water

liger cubs photo  
Photo via The Telegraph
If being adorable was a crime, these liger cubs would clearly be in a great deal of trouble -- but that's not why they were seized recently by authorities in Taiwan. In Taipa's "World Snake King Education Farm" a lion and a tiger were apparently allowed to produce offspring without first getting governmental approval to permit the breeding -- grounds for having the animals relocated and the zoo fined. Officials from the zoo say they had no idea the two big cats were more than friends: "The pregnancy of the tigress caught me totally unprepared."

A Crocodile Painted like a Panda

Thailand has “panda fever”, much like the panda mania that swept the US a few years ago. But American zoos never painted other animals to look like pandas! Thailand’s Chiang Mai Zoo has a pair of pandas on loan from China who produced a baby named Lin Ping. The birth doubled the zoo’s attendance and revenues, causing other zoos to jump on the panda bandwagon.
At several sites across the country, commercial aquariums and animal parks are painting their animals in panda colors to keep up visitor numbers in the face of tougher competition — as well as educate people about the threats elephants and crocodiles face in the wild.
Mr. Kamla, a 25-year-old crocodile-handler, fielded a barrage of questions from schoolchildren recently at Buengchawark Underwater Sea Paradise as he and a colleague painted a three-month-old Siamese crocodile in panda colors.
“They’re an endangered species, too, like the panda, so we hope some of our knowledge will trickle down,” Mr. Kamla says.
Prasit Vejprasit, an administrator at the aquarium, says busloads of schoolchildren — the mainstay of the aquarium’s business — continue coming to the site, a couple of hours’ travel northwest of Bangkok, encouraged in large part by the panda-colored crocs. He says teachers often call to confirm the aquarium is still painting crocodiles before sending their classes.
The children seem to enjoy the novelty. “Most crocodiles are scary but this one is cute,” says Siripob Dara, 9 years old, before he asks Mr. Kamla how long it can grow and what it eats.

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Twenty-Five Bizarre Coins That Are Legal Tender


A selection of the worlds most bizarre coins that are used as legal tender.