CAROLINA NATURALLY

The 45 Most Powerful Images Of 2001

2012-01-25T12:44:00.000-05:00

Buzzfeed compiled a collection of images from the year’s news stories that will remind you how many really big events happened in 2011, from natural disasters to citizen protests to legislation to war. Pictured is a girl in isolation in order to assess her exposure to radiation after Japan’s nuclear facilities were compromised by the March earthquake. Link

New Batch of Giant Alien Worlds Found

2012-01-25T12:34:00.000-05:00

The finding of 18 distant planets boosts a theory about how planets form. Read more

Measuring a Tiny, Yet Mighty, Black Hole

Astronomers have measured the vital statistics of the black hole living in the famous Cygnus X-1 binary system to a very high precision. The mass and physical size of the black hole may surprise you... Read more

NOAA: Arctic worse than in 2005

2012-01-25T12:29:00.000-05:00

It's not surprising, but it's also to be expected. When you have one of the two parties that can't accept science and climate change, how can you combat the problem? More melting may be the new normal for the Arctic.

The report, written by 121 scientists from around the world, said statistics point to a shift in the Arctic health in 2006. That was right before 2007, when a mix of weather conditions and changing climate led to a record loss of sea ice, from which the region has never recovered. This summer's sea ice melt was the second worst on record, a tad behind 2007.

"We've got a new normal," said co-author Don Perovich, a geophysicist at the Army Corps of Engineers Cold Research and Engineering Lab. "Whether it's a tipping point and we'll never recover, who's to say?"

Magnetic Pole Reversal Happens All The (Geologic) Time

2012-01-25T12:28:00.000-05:00

Scientists understand that Earth’s magnetic field has flipped its polarity many times over the millennia. In other words, if you were alive about 800,000 years ago, and facing what we call north with a magnetic compass in your hand, the needle would point to ‘south.’ This is because a magnetic compass is calibrated based on [...]

Continue Reading →

Facebook finds the town too Effin rude for site

2012-01-25T12:22:00.002-05:00

For most people adding the name of where they live on Facebook is relatively straightforward. A problem, however, arises when the place where you live is branded as offensive by the social networking site. One woman from Effin in County Limerick in the Irish Republic has so far been unable to add the village name to the 'home place' section of her Facebook profile.

Ann Marie Kennedy, who works in the department of nursing and midwifery at the University of Limerick, has now started an online campaign to to get Effin recognised. "I was born and raised in Effin and my family come from here," she said. "I am also directing a play, 'Effin Cinderella' this Christmas.

"I would like to be able to put Effin on my profile page and so would many other Effin people around the world to proudly say that they are from Effin, County Limerick, but it won't recognise that," she added. "It just won't let me add it. It just keeps giving suggestions such as Effingham, Illinois; Effingham, New Hampshire."

She said: "I'm a proud Effin woman and I always will be an Effin woman." The 47-year-old Effin native has now started an online campaign, although an attempt to set up a Facebook page called 'Please get my hometown Effin recognised' was also unsuccessful. "It came up with an error message that it was 'offensive'," she said.

More and More US Teenagers Prefer Surfing the Net to Driving a Car

2012-01-25T12:21:00.001-05:00

Remember your first time driving? For most Americans, nothing symbolizes freedom more than the open road. But that's changing: for more and more teenagers, freedom doesn't mean a fast car. It means a fast Internet:

If Ferris Bueller had a day off now, would he spend it on Facebook?
Recent research suggests many young Americans prefer to spend their money and time chatting to their friends online, as opposed to the more traditional pastime of cruising around in cars. [...]
But with money tight in many households, and the cost of gas and insurance soaring, some youngsters are having to choose between buying a car and owning the latest smartphone or tablet.
In a survey to be published later this year by Gartner, 46% of 18 to 24-year-olds said they would choose internet access over owning their own car. The figure is 15% among the baby boom generation, the people that grew up in the 1950s and 60s - seen as the golden age of American motoring.

Link

Editorial Comment

2012-01-25T12:21:00.000-05:00

Yes, we are back, albeit on a severely limited basis for the moment - we are using the facilities at our local Library to get up with the comments and to post updates until our system is repaired.

Reuters Best Photos of the Year 2011

2012-01-23T15:05:00.000-05:00

This photo gallery helps us to sum up some of the important events of 2011 with photographs that made us pay attention. Reuters covered those events and has a gallery of 100 of their best photos for your perusal. Shown is a protester recorded in January in Cairo. Link

Ganvié

2012-01-23T14:52:00.000-05:00

Ganvié, in the Republic of Benin, is the largest collection of lake dwellings in Africa. Around 20,000 people call Ganvié's stilt supported dwellings home. The city, in the middle of lake Nokoué is not a recent construct, however.

It is estimated that Ganvié is anything up to five hundred years old. It has been called the Venice of Africa and like the Italian city, its original inhabitants set up home there out of sheer necessity.

That's about right

2012-01-23T14:51:00.000-05:00

Ain't it the truth

2012-01-23T14:50:00.001-05:00

I feel your pain

The truth be told

2012-01-23T14:50:00.000-05:00

Awesome Pictures

2012-01-23T14:49:00.001-05:00

Daily Comic Relief

2012-01-23T14:49:00.000-05:00

For Northerners Moving South

2012-01-23T14:48:00.000-05:00

In the South: If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive pickup truck with a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.

Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store....do not buy food at this store.

Get used to hearing "You ain't from round here, are ya?"

Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later on how to use it.

Don't be worried at not understanding what people are saying. They can't understand you either. The first Southern statement to creep into a transplanted Northerner's vocabulary is the adjective "big'ol," truck or big'ol" boy. Most Northerners begin their Southern-influenced dialect this way. All of them are in denial about it.

The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper.

Be advised that "He needed killin" is a valid defense here.

If you hear a Southerner exclaim, "Hey, y'all, watch this," you should stay out of the way. These are likely to be the last words he'll ever say.

If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the smallest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It doesn't matter whether you need anything or not. You just have to go there.

Do not be surprised to find that 10-year olds own their own shotguns, they are proficient marksmen, and their mammas taught them how to aim

In the South, we have found that the best way to grow a lush green lawn is to pour gravel on it and call it a driveway.
AND REMEMBER: If you do settle in the South and bear children, don't think we will accept them as Southerners. After all, if the cat had kittens in the oven, we wouldn't call 'em biscuits.

Animal Pictures

2012-01-23T14:47:00.000-05:00

Tom the Dancing Bug

2012-01-23T14:44:00.000-05:00

Redneckus Americani

2012-01-23T14:43:00.000-05:00

You know you're a cop if ...

2012-01-23T14:37:00.000-05:00

You have the bladder capacity of five people

You have ever restrained someone and it was not a sexual experience

You believe that 50% of people are a waste of good air

Your idea of a good time is a "man with a gun" call

You conduct a criminal record check on anyone who seems friendly towards you

You believe in the aerial spraying of Prozac and birth control pills

You disbelieve 90% of what you hear and 75% of what you see

You have your weekends off planned for a year

You believe the government should require a permit to reproduce

You refer to your favorite restaurant by the intersection at which it's located

You have ever wanted to hold a seminar entitled: "Suicide...getting it Right the first time.

You ever had to put the phone on hold before you begin laughing uncontrollably

You think caffeine should be available in IV form

You believe anyone who says, "I only had two beers" is going to blow more than a .O8

You find out a lot about paranoia just by following people around

Anyone has ever said to you, "There are people killing other people out there and you are here messing with me."

People flag you down on the street and ask you directions to strange places ... and you know where it's located

You can discuss where you are going to eat with your partner while standing over a dead body

You are the only person introduced at social gatherings by profession. (ISN'T THIS THE TRUTH!)

You walk into places and people think it's high comedy to grab their buddy and shout, "They've come to get you, Bill."

You do not see daylight from November until May

People shout, "I didn't do it!" when you walk into a room and think they're being hugely funny and original

A week's worth of laundry consists of 5 T-shirts, 5 pairs of socks,and 5 pairs of underwear

You've ever referred to Tuesday as "my weekend", or "this is my Friday."

You've ever written off guns and ammunition as a business deduction

You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, "Boy, it sure is quiet tonight."

Discussing dismemberment over a meal seems perfectly normal to you

You find humor in other people's stupidity

You have left more meals on the restaurant table than you've eaten

You feel good when you hear "these handcuffs are too tight."

Editorial Comment

2012-01-23T14:36:00.000-05:00

We were just informed today that our technical problems are finally going to be addressed shortly.
The holidays and a mutual friend's wedding have taken all the 'spare' time our tech guru has had away from his paying gig.
But now that the holidays have been over and with the friend married off yesterday, he can now look into sloving the issue.
Well, that is if his wife will let him that is - she has been a royal bitch for a year now about everything and anything when she hasn't been the center of everyone's full and undivided attention (even at the wedding she pitched a fit because her hair wasn't fixed first by the stylist doing the wedding party's hair ... and here I always thought it was the Bride who was center of attention on her wedding day, but apparently not).

So we wait patiently for the good news.
And we what to thank our reader Jimbo for the encouraging comments throughout this time of trials and tribulations with the hardware difficulties.

Editorial Comment

2012-01-20T12:42:00.000-05:00

Sorry, for the long delay folks but the technical issues we have been facing are very real (to those that think otherwise) and our IT guys are working on them as they can gratis so we can not complain - it's not everyone that can have free tech work now is it?!
We will be up and running before Spring provided Spring doesn't arrive in February (again to the negative persons out in cyber-space).

Thanks to all the loyal readers who have continued to check in on us ... keep doing so and as soon as possible we will be back with better ideas, content, etc.

Editorial Comment

2012-01-05T11:24:00.000-05:00

We're still working on the mainframe and hope to have it up and running shortly. Thank you for you're patience.

Editorial Comment

2012-01-03T11:54:00.000-05:00

Well, the crash of the mainframe is still under repair and the updates to Carolina Naturally have been non-existant for nearly a month ... sorry about that.
Having to repair both the mainframe and the backup and recover the data has taken longer than we thought but to the loyal readers who have been checking in do not despair we will be back better than ever.

Editorial Comment

2011-12-09T18:06:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of postings here at Carolina Naturally over the last few days. We have had a meltdown in the hardware of the mainframe used to post to this had her sister blog.
The tweeks to the format and transition to new sources is going on behind the scenes even as the computer gurus work to reslove the hardware issue and you or dear readers will like the results.
Again sorry for the lack of postings and we hope the issues are resloved soon and we shall be back better than before.

The Daily Drift

2011-12-03T23:16:00.002-05:00

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:

Moving from point A to point B will be very pleasant for you today -- motion and travel are looking good now.
Even if you just take a walk around the block, you will find plenty of fascinating sights and sounds along the way.
Art and music will also bring you a lot of joy today.
Instead of watching television or wandering around on the internet, put one of your favorite CDs in the stereo and give it a listen while you cook, clean, or do some other type of meditative activity.

Some of our readers today have been in:
Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Preston, Victoria, Australia
Rio De Janiero, Rio De Janiero, Brazil
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Moscow, Moskva, Russia
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Crawley, England, United Kingdom
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Basauri, Pais Vasco, Spain
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Manila, Manila, Philippines
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Ashdod, Hamerkaz, Israel
Coffs Harbor, New South Wales, Australia
Delhi. Delhi, India
Munich, Bayern, Germany
Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Georgetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
San Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador
Cork, Cork, Ireland
Candiac, Quebec, Canada
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Vienna, Wien, Austria
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
London, England, United Kingdom
Tallinn, Harjumma, Estonia
Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia
Cairo, Al Qaihra, Egypt
Kuwai, Al Kuwayt, Kuwait
As, Askershus, Norway
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

as well as Slovakia, Malta, Bulgaria, Israel, Finland, Austria, Norway, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, Kuwait, Serbia, Bangladesh, Latvia, Greece, Scotland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Wales, Iran, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Sweden, Afghanistan, Belgium, Tibet, Croatia, Pakistan, Romania, Paraguay, Sudan, Vietnam, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Maldives, Qatar, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, China, Iraq, Ecuador, Nigeria, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Paupa New Guinea, Moldova, Venezuela, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Norway, Finland

and in cities across the United States such as Cottonwood, Kingstree, Southern Pines, West Palm Beach and more!

Today is:

Today is Saturday, December 3, the 337th day of 2011.

There are 28 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

Ear Muff Day.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Non Sequitur

2011-12-03T23:16:00.001-05:00

President Obama's Weekly Address

2011-12-03T23:16:00.000-05:00

Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
The White House
December 3, 2011

This week, we learned that our economy added another 140,000 private sector jobs in November. Despite some strong headwinds this year, America’s economy has now created private sector jobs for the past 21 months in a row – almost three million new jobs in all, more than half a million of them in the past four months alone.
We need to keep this growth going and strengthen it. That’s why we’ve been fighting to pass a series of jobs bills through Congress – bills that independent economists say will create more jobs and grow the economy even faster. Because now is the time to step on the gas, not slam on the brakes.
Unfortunately, too many Republicans in Congress don’t seem to share that same sense of urgency. Over the last few months, they’ve said “no” to most of these jobs bills. “No” to putting teachers and firefighters back to work. “No” to putting construction workers back on the job. And this week, they actually said “no” to cutting taxes for middle-class families.
You see, last year, both parties came together to cut payroll taxes for the typical middle-class family by about $1,000. But that tax cut is set to expire at the end of this month. If that happens, that same family will see its taxes go up by $1,000. We can’t let that happen. In fact, I think we should cut taxes on working families and small business owners even more.
And we’re going to keep pushing Congress to make this happen. They shouldn’t go home for the holidays until they get this done. And if you agree with me, I could use your help.
We’ve set up a simple tax cut calculator on WhiteHouse.gov so that you can see exactly what the stakes are for your family. Try it out. Then let your members of Congress know where you stand.
Tell them not to vote to raise taxes on working Americans during the holidays. Tell them to put country before party. Put money back in the pockets of working Americans. Pass these tax cuts.
We’re all in this together. The more Americans succeed, the more America succeeds. And if we remember that and do what it takes to keep this economy growing and opportunity rising, then I’m confident that we’ll come out of this stronger than before.

Super Saturday

2011-12-03T23:15:00.002-05:00

'Tis the Season:

2011-12-03T23:15:00.001-05:00

Bree Olson Trashes Homeless People

Homeless people in Indiana are feeling the wrath of Charlie Sheen's former goddess Bree Olsen -- who's BEGGING her community to stop giving money to beggars.

Olsen ignited a firestorm on Twitter earlier today when she posted a photo of a beggar -- and wrote, "STOP giving then money Fort Wayne! The more you give them money this place is gonna start looking like Skid Row."

She added, "Fort Wayne has PLENTY of room in the shelters and almost every church has food shelter and placement. No excuse for him or the others here."

Olsen -- a former porn star -- was bombarded with insults from people who don't see things her way. One person wrote, "Some people are more comfortable asking for help than sucking di*k for money."

Teacher tells 2nd-graders there's no Santa

2011-12-03T23:13:00.000-05:00

When the 7-year-olds told her they knew about the North Pole because of its white-bearded inhabitant, she reportedly responded that Santa did not exist and that Christmas presents were bought by their parents.

Teacher reportedly tells 2nd-graders there's no Santa

The teacher is wrong.
And here's why:

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

The original Sun piece:

New School Policy Forbids Teachers From Failing Students Caught Cheating

2011-12-03T23:12:00.000-05:00

Caught cheating? In my days, that's an automatic fail.
But not anymore, at least not in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada! Teachers there are forbidden to fail a student caught cheating:

The school board had defended the policy change, on grounds that cheating students could still be disciplined — including a suspension from school — and that a failing grade did not resolve whether the student had actually learned an assignment.
But critics said the policy helped coddle students, and gave a signal that cheating does not have serious consequences.

Full Story

One of the earliest known examples of math homework

2011-12-03T23:11:00.000-05:00

It's stuff like this that makes me love archaeology. Turns out, we can trace the concept of math homework back to at least 2300 B.C.E., in ancient Mesopotamia.
In the early 20th century, German researchers found several clay tablets at the site of Šuruppak. (Today, that's basically the Iraqi city of Tell Fara.) Some of the tablets appear to be the remains of math instruction, including two different tablets that are working the same story problem.

A loose translation of the problem is: A granary. Each man receives 7 sila of grain. How many men? That is, the tablets concern a highly artificial problem and certainly present a mathematical exercise and not an archival document. The tablets give the statement of the problem and its answer (164571 men - expressed in the sexagesimal system S since we are counting men - with 3 sila left over). However, one of the tablets gives an incorrect solution. When analyzing these tablets, Marvin Powell commented famously that it was, "written by a bungler who did not know the front from the back of his tablet, did not know the difference between standard numerical notation and area notation, and succeeded in making half a dozen writing errors in as many lines."

That comes from a site set up by Duncan Mellville, a math professor at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. He's actually got a whole collection of essays on Mesopotamian mathematics. I am certain, that by posting this, I've just ruined somebody's productivity for, like, a week.

Editor's Note:The image is not THE cuneiform tablet in question.

Nerd Music

2011-12-03T23:09:00.000-05:00

House of the Rising Sun

(YouTube link)

From YouTube member bd594, the same geek who brought us “Bohemian Rhapsody” by The Gadget Orchestra (presented below) a couple of years ago, we now have the classic “House of the Rising Sun” played by various vintage electronic gadgets. The instruments:

a. HP Scanjet 3P, Adaptec SCSI card and a computer powered by Ubuntu v9.10 OS as the Vocals. (hey, the scanner is old)
b. Atari 800XL with an EiCO Oscilloscope as the Organ
c. Texas instrument Ti-99/4A with a Tektronix Oscilloscope as the Guitar
d. Hard-drive powered by a PiC16F84A microcontroller as the bass drum and cymbal

(YouTube link)

Can you get any geekier than Bohemian Rhapsody played by an orchestra of vintage gadgets? I think not. From the YouTube page:

Please note no effects or sampling was used. What you see is what you hear (does that even make sense?)
Atari 800XL was used for the lead piano/organ sound
Texas Instruments TI-99/4a as lead guitar
8 Inch Floppy Disk as Bass
3.5 inch Harddrive as the gong
HP ScanJet 3C was used for all vocals. Please note I had to record the HP scanner 4 seperate times for each voice. I tried to buy 4 HP scanners but for some reason sellers on E-Bay expect you to pay $80-$100, I got mine for $30.

Impatient people have lower credit scores

2011-12-03T23:07:00.001-05:00

Is there a psychological reason why people default on their mortgages? A new study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that people with bad credit scores …

Continue Reading

Why Can’t a Woman Shop More like a Man?

2011-12-03T23:07:00.000-05:00

Not surprisingly, the way men and women shop online mirrors very closely how they shop offline, according to Andrew Robertson, CEO at advertising agency BBDO.

The differences in how men and women shop online mirror very closely how they shop offline, says BBDO CEO Andrew …

Men tend to be very task-focused when they shop online, Robertson said. "They don't shop, they hunt," he said, adding that they tend to make purchases at night.

Women, however, tend to think of shopping as "a journey" and they are more likely to buy during their lunch breaks between noon and 1 p.m., he said.

The result: When it comes time to make a purchase, men shop online for an average of 10 minutes before they complete their purchase, while a woman may take about 14 minutes or so - or about 40 percent longer.

So why can't a woman shop more like a man? The answer is: she can. But that tends to occur when the pressure is on to make a speedy purchase. For example, on a day like Black Friday or Cyber Monday the gender gap narrows, according to Robertson.

He thinks retailers need to ...

Read More

Art News

2011-12-03T23:06:00.000-05:00

Lost Rembrandt portrait revealed

An unfinished self-portrait by the Dutch master Rembrandt is discovered under another painting using advanced scientific techniques.

Olympic Pole Dancing

2011-12-03T23:05:00.001-05:00

A push for Olympic Pole Dancing

There's new push to make a practice most commonly seen at nightclubs and some fitness gyms an Olympic sport.

Daily Comic Relief

2011-12-03T23:05:00.000-05:00

Jobs number out and very disappointing

2011-12-03T23:04:00.000-05:00

UE went "down," but job growth was far too slow

ADP was predicting 206,000 new jobs but the official number today is a mere 120,000 though the unemployment rate did drop. That does show you how bogus some of the numbers are because the jobs increase was well below the "break even" number for the month (i.e., below the number need to make the unemployment rate drop). As we can see from the UK example, harsh austerity isn't the answer, but maintaining the status quo isn't the answer either.

We can't afford the same old, same old but that's what we're stuck with today.

Job creation remained weak in the U.S. during November, with just 120,000 new positions created, though the unemployment rate slid to 8.6 percent, a government report showed Friday.

The rate fell from the previous month's 9.0 percent, a move which in part reflected a drop in those looking for jobs. The participation rate dropped to 64 percent, from 64.2 percent in October, representing 315,000 fewer job-seekers.

The actual employment level increased by 278,000. The total amount of those without a job fell to 13.3 million.

Note from John: The Atlantic's Derek Thompson explains how the unemployment rate could drop when the number of new jobs added wasn't enough to decrease the unemployment rate. The quick answer: They use two different metrics to measure the unemployment rate and the number of new jobs added:

There are about 150 million people with jobs in the U.S., so it's impossible to measure every hiring and firing perfectly. The government relies on two imperfect surveys. To get the jobs-added figure, we count hirings and firings on payrolls. To get the unemployment rate and the employment/population rate, we conduct a survey of U.S. households.

The household survey says we added 300,000 jobs last month. The other survey says the private sector added only 140,000 jobs in November. Half of those jobs came from retail (it's shopping season) and health care (which is always growing). Meanwhile, the government lost 20,000 jobs. The result was a 120,000 net gain.

So the "unemployment rate" is based on the household survey, which says we added 300,000 jobs last month, more than the break-even point (which is, depending who you talk to, somewhere between 200k and 300k jobs added in one month) - thus the unemployment rate went down.

But the official "jobs added" figure is based on the number of hirings and firing on payrolls that month. And the number for last month was an anemic 120,000 new jobs added, not enough to decrease the unemployment rate. So, the numbers are a bit bogus.

Did you know ...

2011-12-03T23:02:00.000-05:00

Occupy vs. tea party: what their twitter networks reveal.

Elvis Costello says don't buy my records, buy Satchmo instead.

Does anyone really think more tax cuts will cause executives to create more jobs?

Have you ever wondered why they get away with it?

2011-12-03T23:01:00.000-05:00

This is why Faux News, Lush Dimbulb and their ilk aren't behind bars where they should be - but they will commit a criminal offense soon enough (OK, so maybe not quite soon enough for decent people) and will be silenced doing hard time in prison.

Krugman on why Europe is headed towards economic disaster, and we’re close behind

2011-12-03T23:00:00.001-05:00

It's got to be frustrating to be a Paul Krugman or a Joe Stiglitz. "Told you so" is only so much fun when the price for being right is the demise of the world economy. In his latest NYT column, Krugman explains how it was the European Central Bank, and governments' misplaced notion that during a recession you cut back spending, that put Europe in the mess it's in - and we're following on their heels, fast.

I hope, for our sake as well as theirs, that the Europeans will change course before it’s too late. But, to be honest, I don’t believe they will. In fact, what’s much more likely is that we will follow them down the path to ruin.

For in America, as in Europe, the economy is being dragged down by troubled debtors — in our case, mainly homeowners. And here, too, we desperately need expansionary fiscal and monetary policies to support the economy as these debtors struggle back to financial health. Yet, as in Europe, public discourse is dominated by deficit scolds and inflation obsessives.

So the next time you hear someone claiming that if we don’t slash spending we’ll turn into Greece, your answer should be that if we do slash spending while the economy is still in a depression, we’ll turn into Europe. In fact, we’re well on our way.

We're in a bit of a bind, folks. The Republicans have convinced the country that we simply must cut spending or else (and they don't quite enunciate what the "or else" is), while the President and Democrats in Congress gleefully jumped on the GOP budget-cutting bandwagon a good two years ago. And now we're all heading towards a worldwide economic disaster, and few government leaders, in any country, are acknowledging the cause.

Even if the Republicans were right, and they're not, cutting government regulations isn't going to get the economy back on its feet. A recent analysis by the Associated Press showed that government regulations caused a whopping 0.2% of all layoffs in the past three years. So the Republicans are pushing spending cuts, which will depress the economy further, and the repeal of regulations, that will do next to nothing to help the economy, but will probably hurt workers, food safety and the environment. And all the while, Democrats will be too afraid to tell voters the truth - that we need to create demand, fast.

It's Math Folks

2011-12-03T22:59:00.000-05:00

For those unable to grasp the concept of math (i.e., repugicans) it means that you get the most 'bang for your buck' when you spend on programs to directly benefit people and on new infrastructure and maintaining/repairing existing infrastructure - for every $1.00 spent, $1.75 is returned or to put it another way you make a profit of $.75 ... or a net surplus.

Spending that $1.00 on unemployment insurance & food stamps, etc., direct aid to states, and tax cuts to low and middle income individuals all net surpluses of $1.45, $1.25 and $1.05 respectively.

On the other hand doing like repugicans love to do - spending that $1.00 by giving tax breaks to wealthy individuals nets you $.40 ... in other words a NET LOSS of $.60 or a deficit.

Also, spending that $1.00 in the other way the repugicans love to do is an even more abysmal financial (and mathematical) folly ... for every $1.00 spent in giving tax breaks to corporations you net $.20 which is a NET LOSS of $.80 - not smart in any circumstance [and would get you a failing grade in Econ 101, which is exactly what the current crop of ~~idiots~~ (pardon ... repugicans) running to lose to President Obama in November 2012 got from Economic professors around the world when they unveiled their 'economic plans' of how they would handle the economy if the American people were so stupid as to vote for them.]

More on former AIG CEO suing government, claiming bailout not generous enough

2011-12-03T22:57:00.000-05:00

In any sane legal system this suit would be tossed immediately and the plaintif's lawyers disbarred for wasting the court's time. AIG is the insurer that the US government spent $182 billion bailing out because there was absolutely no way that it could possibly meet its obligations.

Bloomberg:

Greenberg’s Starr International Co. sued the government Nov. 21, calling the public assumption of 80 percent of stock in the insurer in 2008 an unconstitutional “taking” of property that requires $25 billion in compensation.

The correct amount of compensation for AIG shareholders was zero. Allowing them to keep 20% of a bankrupt company after the government bailed it out with $182 billion was a farce.

Greenberg's firm is represented by David Boies, a lawyer who has made a career out of losing high profile cases with tenuous legal arguments. He lost Napster, SCO and the Florida recount. He did get a district court to declare Microsoft a monopoly, but only after the judge had shown such a remarkable degree of incompetence and bias that the decision was thrown out by the Appeals court.

Note from John: I'd be remiss not to mention that Boies has done an amazing job fighting the Prop 8 case in court, including this delicious destruction of the head of the hate group Famiky Research Council, Tony Perkins, on Face the Nation a while back.

Chase executive: we tricked naive borrowers into taking out subprime loans

2011-12-03T22:56:00.001-05:00

An award-winning Chase vice-president has gone public with accusations that his bank deliberately tricked naive borrowers into taking out high-commission loans they could never pay back (his team wrote $2B in loans during the subprime bubble), putting the lie to the narrative that subprime was about greedy borrowers taking money they knew they shouldn't:

One memory particularly troubles Theckston. He says that some account executives earned a commission seven times higher from subprime loans, rather than prime mortgages. So they looked for less savvy borrowers — those with less education, without previous mortgage experience, or without fluent English — and nudged them toward subprime loans.
These less savvy borrowers were disproportionately blacks and Latinos, he said, and they ended up paying a higher rate so that they were more likely to lose their homes. Senior executives seemed aware of this racial mismatch, he recalled, and frantically tried to cover it up.
Theckston, who has a shelf full of awards that he won from Chase, such as “sales manager of the year,” showed me his 2006 performance review. It indicates that 60 percent of his evaluation depended on him increasing high-risk loans.
In late 2008, when the mortgage market collapsed, Theckston and most of his colleagues were laid off. He says he bears no animus toward Chase, but he does think it is profoundly unfair that troubled banks have been rescued while troubled homeowners have been evicted.

A Banker Speaks, With Regret

Dutch copyright group accused of pirating its anti-piracy anthem

2011-12-03T22:56:00.000-05:00

And music collecting society boss seeks 33% finders' fee for getting musician paid

A musician called Melchior Rietveldt was commissioned by the Dutch copyright-lobbying group BREIN to compose an anthem for an "anti-piracy" video. According to Rietveldt, BREIN licensed his work for a single use. However, the film industry has gone on to use the music in those crappy anti-piracy ads they run at the start of DVDs telling you off for being a pirate when you've just bought the DVD you're watching. Rietveldt's representatives claim that tens of millions of Dutch DVDs contain his composition, and that he's owed more than EUR1M.

Soon after he discovered the unauthorized distribution of his music Rietveldt alerted the local music royalty collecting agency Buma/Stemra. The composer demanded compensation, but to his frustration he heard very little from Buma/Stemra and he certainly didn’t receive any royalties.
Earlier this year, however, a breakthrough seemed to loom on the horizon when Buma/Stemra board member Jochem Gerrits contacted the composer with an interesting proposal. Gerrits offered to help out the composer in his efforts to get paid for his hard work, but the music boss had a few demands of his own.
In order for the deal to work out the composer had to assign the track in question to the music publishing catalogue of the Buma/Stemra board member. In addition to this, the music boss demanded 33% of all the money set to be recouped as a result of his efforts.

It gets worse. Click through to read how Gerrits was recorded making this demand, and what happened next.

Copyright Corruption Scandal Surrounds Anti-Piracy Campaign

Profiles in Scourges

2011-12-03T22:54:00.000-05:00

Pablo Escobar

You know the name, but you probably don’t really know much about drug lord Pablo Escobar. Now you can read the short version of how he clawed his way up the ladder in the cocaine business.

The profits were astronomical at every step. In 1978 each kilo probably cost Escobar $2,000 but sold to Lehder and Jung for $22,000, clearing Escobar $20,000 per kilo. In the next stage they transported an average of 400 kilos to south Florida (incurring some additional expenses in hush money for local airport authorities) where mid-level dealers paid a wholesale price of $60,000 per kilo; thus in 1978 each 400-kilo load earned Escobar $8 million and Lehder, Ochoa, and Jung $5 million each in profits. Of course the mid-level dealers did just fine: after cutting the drug with baking soda each shipment retailed on the street for $210 million, almost ten times what they paid for it.
Soon Lehder was hiring American pilots to fly a steady stream of cocaine into the U.S., paying them $400,000 per trip. At one trip per week, in 1978 this translated into wholesale revenues of $1.3 billion and profits of $1 billion.

The profits and risks soared after that. The Jung in the quote is American George Jung, whose story was told in the 2001 film Blow. Read the rest of Escobar’s astonishing biography at mental_floss.

Car Talk

2011-12-03T22:53:00.000-05:00

Car buyer livid over bizarre arrest

Jacoline Lipharama has had a rough week. First she paid R33 000 for a second-hand car.
Full Story

Awesome Pictures

2011-12-03T22:51:00.001-05:00

The Disappearing USA

2011-12-03T22:51:00.000-05:00

The U.S. landscape is home to many unique natural formations that took thousands and thousands of years to develop, but as our population -- and need for more space -- grows, there's a risk some may be lost to future generations. For your next trip, consider these Top 5 disappearing places and enjoy them before they disappear.

5) The Everglades, Florida: The Everglades is the "largest subtropical wilderness" in the country, but because of human encroachment, rare animals are losing their homes. The national park covers about 1.5 million acres and provides all sorts of outdoorsy adventures: camping, kayaking, boating, hiking and bird watching, to name a few.

4) Sunset Cliffs, San Diego, California: These rugged cliffs run along the Southern California coast, with panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. It's popular area with surfers, whale watchers and weddings. The sandstone bluffs, which feature arches and sea caves, are slowly being eaten away by runoff from developments and irrigation.

3) Coral Reefs of Biscayne National Park, South Florida: These delicate reefs, the only living coral feel in the U.S., are must for avid divers, snorkelers and boaters; the park also features an underwater "trail" that allows visitors to explore various shipwrecks within the park. However, the reef's popularity is also contributing to its disappearance: Some of the coral has declined by 90%, partly due to overfishing.

2) Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings, Colorado: Pueblo Indians built these 600 cliff dwellings hundreds of years ago, carving them into the sheer sandstone walls. The well-preserved structures range from one-room dwellings to a 150-room "palace." Despite its remote location, pollution, invasive plant species and runoff are just a few of the environmental issues that the park is battling.

1) The Glaciers of Glacier National Park, Montana: In addition to namesake glaciers, the park is also home to bears, gray wolves, golden eagles and lynx. It also features more than 740 miles of trails, so don't forget your hiking boats. In 1850, this national park boasted 150 giant glaciers; today, only 27 remain. By 2030, even those may be gone.

Space Invaders Take Over California

2011-12-03T22:49:00.000-05:00

The latest graffiti to splatter itself across the stores, buildings, and street signs is from an Atari 2600.

The Space Invaders are back.

Read more

Ziggy

2011-12-03T22:47:00.001-05:00

The Bomb Buried In Healthcare Reform Explodes - Hallelujah!

2011-12-03T22:47:00.000-05:00

Well, worth the read - and posted at Forbes!

The Bomb Buried In Obamacare Explodes Today-Hallelujah!

Editor's Note: Actually it exploded yesterday December 2, 2011 and it was not the 'bomb' the health insurance companies and their lackeys the repugicans have been lying about for months ad nauseum - it did not go off in the faces of the American people but in the faces of the insurance companies. And what pray tell was the 'bomb'? ... Read the article and see why the insurance companies are crying ... an the American people will be celebrating!

Healthy Living

2011-12-03T22:46:00.000-05:00

The Gene for Short Sleepers

2011-12-03T22:45:00.000-05:00

Scientists discovered that people who need only a few hours of sleep each night before waking up refreshed and full of energy (no coffee required!) owe this ability to a single gene:

The Europe-wide study saw 4,000 people from seven EU countries fill out a questionnaire assessing their sleep habits. The researchers then scanned the genomes of the volunteers and looked for variations in their genes that correlated with their answers about their sleep patterns.
They discovered that people who had two copies of one common variant of ABCC9 slept for significantly shorter periods than people with two copies of another version.
The finding, described in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, could explain why light sleepers are able to get by on just a few hours of shut-eye a night, says Toronto-based sleep expert Dr. Colin Shapiro.
"This tells us that we are programmed in some way to need a certain amount of sleep, just as some people are programmed to be taller and others are programmed to be shorter," he told CTV's Canada AM Tuesday morning.

Full Story

New stem cell method makes lots of liver, pancreas precursors

2011-12-03T22:44:00.000-05:00

Scientists in Canada have overcome a key research hurdle to developing regenerative treatments for diabetes and liver disease with a technique to produce medically useful amounts of endoderm cells from human pluripotent stem cells.

Continue Reading

Engineering cartilage replacements

2011-12-03T22:43:00.000-05:00

A lab discovery is a step toward implantable replacement cartilage, holding promise for knees, shoulders, ears and noses damaged by osteoarthritis, sports injuries and accidents.
Self-assembling sheets of mesenchymal stem cells permeated with tiny be…

Continue Reading

The Green Man

2011-12-03T22:42:00.000-05:00

Science News

2011-12-03T22:41:00.001-05:00

New elements' names are unveiled

Scientists suggest Flerovium and Livermorium as names for the newest additions to the periodic table.

Phobos-Grunt

2011-12-03T22:41:00.000-05:00

Europe ends calls to Mars probe

The European Space Agency says it is ceasing efforts to try to contact Russia's wayward Mars probe, Phobos-Grunt, after a week-and-a-half of silence.

What would failure mean for Russia?

B.C.

2011-12-03T22:40:00.000-05:00

Upping the cute factor

2011-12-03T22:39:00.001-05:00

Dancing Deep Sea Denizens

2011-12-03T22:39:00.000-05:00

Careful lookout for acorn worms has revealed nine new species thriving in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Read More

Animal Pictures

2011-12-03T22:38:00.000-05:00

The Daily Drift

2011-12-02T20:46:00.001-05:00

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:

Sometimes, it isn't totally obvious when you have made progress in a relationship.
The other person doesn't give out grades, so it can be hard to tell if you've become more important to them or not.
There are only, from time to time, little tests.
Today, you'll be feeling good when you are able to come to the rescue for a friend at the very last minute.
You will prove that you are dependable and generous -- in short, you'll prove what a good partner you can be.

Some of our readers today have been in:
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Candiac, Quebec, Canada
Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Rio De Janiero, Rio De Janiero, Brazil
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Paris, Ile-De- France, France
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
London, England, United Kingdom
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Wellington, Wellington,New Zealand
Annecy, Rhone-Alpes, France
Moscow, Moskva, Russia
Canterbury, England, United Kingdom
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Crawley, England, United Kingdom
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Canberra, Australian, Capital Territory, Australia
Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Manila, Manila, Philippines
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Ashdod, Hamerkaz, Israel
Oxford, England, United Kingdom
Delhi, Delhi, India
Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany
Georgetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana
Gosford, New South Wales, Australia
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Lille, Nord-Pas-De-Calais, France
San Salvador, San Salvador, El Salvador
Munich, Bayern, Germany
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Basauri, Pais Vasco, Spain
Coffs Harbor, New South Wales, Australia
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

as well as Slovakia, Malta, Bulgaria, Israel, Finland, Austria, Norway, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, Kuwait, Serbia, Bangladesh, Latvia, Greece, Scotland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Wales, Iran, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Sweden, Afghanistan, Belgium, Tibet, Croatia, Pakistan, Romania, Paraguay, Sudan, Vietnam, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Maldives, Qatar, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, China, Iraq, Ecuador, Nigeria, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Paupa New Guinea, Moldova, Venezuela, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Norway, Finland

and in cities across the United States such as Fawn Grove, Long Beach, Martins Ferry, Thorndale and more!

Today is:

Today is Friday, December 2, the 336th day of 2011.

There are 29 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

National Mutt Day.

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Non Sequitur

2011-12-02T20:46:00.000-05:00

Editorial Comment

2011-12-02T20:45:00.000-05:00

Some of the links to stories provided on this blog have not been maintained by the primary source recently and it has caused consternation among the staff here at Carolina Naturally as to what to do about it.

With the thought that we read somewhere that the average life of a link on the web these days is 1 hour we have toyed with the idea of more or less dropping some sources that do not maintain their links and replacing them with those that do.
We plan to do this while maintaining the commitment to diversity in the stories we post that we have made so our readers more than likely will not notice any changes in content or in source material.

This move to better sources (as well as format tweaks, but more on that later) was planned to begin in 2012 but it looks like December, 2011 will be the time.

Far-Out Friday

2011-12-02T20:44:00.001-05:00

Perhaps it depends on how you define "fraud" ??

2011-12-02T20:44:00.000-05:00

From an article by Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone:

Last week, a federal judge in Mississippi sentenced a mother of two named Anita McLemore to three years in federal prison for lying on a government application in order to obtain food stamps... The total "cost" of her fraud was $4,367.

She has paid the money back. But paying the money back was not enough for federal Judge Henry Wingate... He ultimately gave her three years, saying, "The defendant's criminal record is simply abominable …. She has been the beneficiary of government generosity in state court."

Compare this court decision to the fraud settlements on Wall Street. Like McLemore, fraud defendants like Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank have "been the beneficiary of government generosity." Goldman got $12.9 billion just through the AIG bailout. Citigroup got $45 billion, plus hundreds of billions in government guarantees.

All of these companies have been repeatedly dragged into court for fraud, and not one individual defendant has ever been forced to give back anything like a significant portion of his ill-gotten gains. The closest we've come is in a fraud case involving Citi, in which a pair of executives, Gary Crittenden and Arthur Tildesley, were fined the token amounts of $100,000 and $80,000, respectively, for lying to shareholders about the extent of Citi’s debt. Neither man was forced to admit to intentional fraud. Both got to keep their jobs...

This is the reason why all of these settlements allowing banks to walk away without "admissions of wrongdoing" are particularly insidious. A normal person, once he gets a felony conviction, immediately begins to lose his rights as a citizen. But white-collar criminals of the type we’ve seen in recent years on Wall Street – both the individuals and the corporate "citizens" – do not suffer these ramifications. They commit crimes without real consequence, allowing them to retain access to the full smorgasbord of subsidies and financial welfare programs that, let’s face it, are the source of most of their profits...

Read more

House Panel Subpoenas Jon Corzine To Testify About MF Global Scandal

2011-12-02T20:42:00.000-05:00

A congressional panel has voted to subpoena former Sen. Jon Corzine to compel him to testify at a hearing next week about his role leading the investment firm MF Global, which collapsed after a disastrous bet on European debt.

Full Story

The repugicans kill the payroll tax cut extension to protect the rich

2011-12-02T20:40:00.000-05:00

They choose to raise taxes on the middle class instead

Here's a statement from the President:

Tonight, Senate Republicans chose to raise taxes on nearly 160 million hardworking Americans because they refused to ask a few hundred thousand millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share. They voted against a bill that would have not only extended the $1,000 tax cut for a typical family, but expanded that tax cut to put an extra $1,500 in their pockets next year, and given nearly six million small business owners new incentives to expand and hire. That is unacceptable. It makes absolutely no sense to raise taxes on the middle class at a time when so many are still trying to get back on their feet.

Now is not the time to put the economy and the security of the middle class at risk. Now is the time to rebuild an economy where hard work and responsibility pay off, and everybody has a chance to succeed. Now is the time to put country before party and work together on behalf of the American people. And I will continue to urge Congress to stop playing politics with the security of millions of American families and small business owners and get this done.

The repugican Senators in turmoil ...

2011-12-02T20:38:00.000-05:00

The majority vote against repugican’s own plan to extend payroll tax cut

Who says the tea party only runs the House repugicans.
A majority of repugican Senators just voted against the repugican plan to extend the payroll tax cut by cutting the pay of the federal workforce.
It was the repugican's own legislation and a majority of repugicans voted AGAINST it.

Reuters:

The repugican ambivalence toward any extension of the payroll tax cut was evident in the Senate as a majority of the party's 47 senators voted against the repugican plan.

So a majority of repugicans voted against the Democratic plan to extend the payroll tax cut, and a majority of repugicans voted against even the repugican plan to extend the payroll tax cut.

In other words, the repugicans don't want to extend the payroll tax cut at all. They want to raise taxes on every single working American. Not just the middle class - if you have a job, the repugicans just voted to raise your taxes for Christmas.

What's hard to figure out is what the repugicans are thinking here. Wouldn't repugicans in Congress want to cut taxes for everyone? Isn't that what they're always telling us they're for? Or are they making an exception in this case - an exception that might cost the economy 1.5 percentage points of GDP next quarter - simply because this was Barack Obama's idea, and the repugicans want Obama to lose, so they're willing to hold every single working American hostage.

Merry Christmas to you too.

And PS, what to make of Boehner and McConnell? It seems their word, and wishes, don't mean much in the repugican caucus.

"President" Bachmann vows to close non-existent US embassy in Iran

2011-12-02T20:32:00.000-05:00

When people wonder why the political class is such a failure, look no further than the tea party's "leader" in Congress.

In light of the British Foreign Ministry pulling all U.K. nationals out of the British embassy in Tehran after students stormed the building in protest, repugican presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann told a crowd in Waverly, Iowa, today that she would close the U.S. embassy in Iran.

One small, tiny note: The U.S. hasn’t had an embassy in Tehran since 1980. Following the Iranian Hostage Crisis, where 52 Americans were held for 444 days, the United States cut all diplomatic ties.

According to reports, Bachmann applauded the U.K.’s move, adding, “That’s exactly what I would do [if I were president]. We wouldn’t have an embassy in Iran. I wouldn’t allow that to be there."

And I Quote

2011-12-02T20:30:00.000-05:00

Dentist makes threat over negative review

2011-12-02T20:24:00.000-05:00

Robert Lee went into Dr.Stacy Makhnevich’s New York dentist office for a sore tooth, but the year that followed turned into what one Public Citizen senior lawyer called an “unconscionable practice.”

The controversy began in 2010, when Lee went into Makhnevich’s office for a scheduled dentist’s appointment. Bleary from pain, Lee claimed he was told he had to sign several papers, including a “Mutual Agreement to Maintain Privacy,” before being treated. The form required Lee to agree not to publish any commentary or write anything disparaging about his experience with Makhnevich.
While Lee said he was hesitant to sign such a form, he claimed he was in severe pain and, therefore, gave in to the requirements.
Lee received a bill for $4,766 for the dental work, according to Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization. Lee reportedly asked the dentist to send the necessary paperwork to his insurance company, but she sent it to the wrong company. When he asked for the forms to submit them himself, Makhnevich’s office apparently refused to hand them over and referred him to a third party that required five percent of the total bill for its services.
Fed up, Lee wrote negative reviews about Makhnevich and her practice on Yelp and DoctorBase.
Lee then received a letter from the dentist demanding that he delete the post, warning him that he violated the agreement and threatening to sue for breach of contract. Makhnevich also reached out to both websites, asking for Lee’s comments to be removed, according to Public Citizen.
The sites refused to take down the negative reviews, but Makhneich reportedly claimed that a copyright clause gave her ownership of the harsh words. She then sent Lee an invoice for $100 for each day the criticism remained online.
Makhnevich did not immediately return requests for comment.
“We are now seeking a declaratory judgment from the judge to show that my client was not doing anything wrong,” said Paul Levy, Lee’s lawyer, a senior attorney at Public Citizen. “Doctors and dentists are expected to behave in an ethical manner, and to impose this sort of requirement on people who are having emergencies is unethical.”
The suit argues that the forms that Lee signed should be deemed null and void.
“Facing criticism comes with the turf of these jobs,” Levy said. “If they defame you, then that’s something else. A doctor can sue for that.”
A North Carolina company known as Medical Justice sells the agreement forms to health care providers. The company claims about 3,000 doctors and dentists use the forms, according to Public Citizen.
In response to the lawsuit Public Citizen filed Tuesday night, Medical Justice spokespeople announced the company would stop recommending medical professionals have patients sign such forms, Public Citizen announced.
“This is a form of bullying, and it’s absurd that this could possibly be an enforceable contract,” said Arthur Caplan, chairman of the department of medical ethics at University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. ”It infringes upon free speech and you can’t just have that waived away on a silence contract.”

While Caplan acknowledged that doctors or dentists can indeed get “bum raps” from bad write-ups online, “someone who is put off by one negative review isn’t a patient you’d want anyway. If there’s a pattern of bad reviews, that’s a different story.”

“This doctor is overreacting and attempting to muzzle patients,” added Caplan. “It is not a desirable reaction at all.”

***

She thinks she had a negative review before ....

Crabby Road

2011-12-02T20:19:00.000-05:00

Has Da Vinci's Lost Work Been Found at Another's Expense?

2011-12-02T20:18:00.000-05:00

Researchers have drilled a hole into a frescoed wall which they believe hides a long lost Da Vinci masterpiece known as the "Battle of Anghiari."

Read more

The Twist Bridge Over The Vlaardingse Vaart, The Netherlands

2011-12-02T20:17:00.000-05:00

image credit

This bicycle and pedestrian bridge, alled 'The Twist' bridge for its contorted and sculptural lines, connects the Holy-Zuid district and the Broekpolder in the city of Vlaardingen in the Netherlands. The visitor enters the bridge through a rectangular frame, while the space evolves dynamically into a double-height diamond-shaped tube, through the bridge's centre.

Constructed largely onsite, prefabricated in a temporary shed, the Twist bridge was made of 400 steel tubes, welded together, galvanized and painted red for maximum visual effect.

It came from the sky

2011-12-02T20:16:00.000-05:00

The owners of a Plymouth, Mass., furniture warehouse want to know the origin of a chunk of metal that plunged through the roof. No one was hurt when the six-inch, cylindrical piece of metal weighing about five pounds came through the roof Wednesday or Thursday.

The chunk punched a small hole in the warehouse roof over a storage closet and scattered ceiling-tile debris on the floor.

Federal Aviation Administration inspectors say the piece of metal, broken at both ends, was not an airplane part.

An FAA spokeswoman says the chunk likely came from a piece of heavy machinery, possibly a wood chipper. That still doesn't explain how it came crashing through the roof.

Police are also stumped.

The owner of Michael's Furniture Warehouse says someone could have been killed.

Past Decade Ties for World's Hottest

2011-12-02T20:15:00.000-05:00

Thirteen of the warmest years recorded have occurred within the last decade and a half.

Read more

Record drought on the Danube exposes sunken WWII battleships, causes water shortages

2011-12-02T20:13:00.000-05:00

The waters of the mighty Danube are so low that dozens of cargo ships are simply stuck, stranded in ghostly fog or wedged into sand banks on what is normally one of eastern Europe's busiest transport routes.

Full Story

Massive Piece Of Driftwood Washed Ashore

2011-12-02T20:12:00.000-05:00

A massive piece of driftwood washed ashore recently in La Push, a small community on the northwest coast of Washington's most westerly peninsula. This piece of driftwood is actually called a drift log.

It wasn't measured, but finding trees in the forest between 5 and 10 feet in diameter and a couple hundred feet tall isn't uncommon. Powerful winds accompanied by high tides are required to bring these monsters ashore.

The Hipster's Dictionary

2011-12-02T20:11:00.000-05:00

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Hipsters are a subculture of young, recently settled urban middle class adults and older teenagers with musical interests mainly in alternative rock that appeared in the 1990s. Hipster culture has been described as a 'mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior.'

The term itself was coined during the jazz age, when 'hip' emerged as an adjective to describe aficionados of the growing scene. 'Hip' eventually acquired the common English suffix -ster (as in spinster and gangster), and 'hipster' entered the language.

Here's a copasetic compendium of hep cat hype and swing-era slang.

Words with no etymological roots

2011-12-02T20:10:00.000-05:00

In looking at The History of English one finds that some rather common words have an unknown etymology:

A good example is the word dog, etymologically unrelated to any other known word, which, in the late Middle Ages, suddenly and mysteriously displaced the Old English word hound (or hund) which had served for centuries. Some of the commonest words in the language arrived in a similarly inexplicable way (e.g. jaw, askance, tantrum, conundrum, bad, big, donkey, kick, slum, log, dodge, fuss, prod, hunch, freak, bludgeon, slang, puzzle, surf, pour, slouch, bash, etc).

Words like gadget, blimp, raunchy, scam, nifty, zit, clobber, gimmick, jazz and googol have all appeared in the last century or two with no apparent etymology, and are more recent examples of this kind of novel creation of words. Additionally, some words that have existed for centuries in regional dialects or as rarely used terms, suddenly enter into popular use for little or no apparent reason (e.g. scrounge and seep, both old but obscure English words, suddenly came into general use in the early 20th Century).

Sometimes, if infrequently, a "nonce word" (created "for the nonce", and not expected to be re-used or generalized) does become incorporated into the language. One example is James Joyce's invention quark, which was later adopted by the physicist Murray Gell-Mann to name a new class of sub-atomic particle, and another is blurb, which dates back to 1907.

English language enthusiasts will want to browse further down the page at the link to learn about words created by adoption, truncation, fusion, imitation, back-formation, and errors ("refudiate.")

Ziggy

2011-12-02T20:09:00.000-05:00

Why the 'Native' Fashion Trend Is Pissing Off Real Native Americans

2011-12-02T20:08:00.000-05:00

Tis the season for buying presents. As you peruse your local mall, you might find yourself drawn to beautiful geometric patterns in vibrant colors, long associated with Navajo rugs, Pendleton 'Indian trade' blankets, and Southwest Native American pottery. They'll be everywhere you look, on sneakers, pricey handbags, home decor, and high-fashion skirts, coats, and jackets.

But many Native Americans are less than thrilled that this so-called 'native look' is trendy right now. The company that's stirred up the most controversy so far is Urban Outfitters, which offered a 'Navajo' line this fall before the Navajo Nation sent the company a cease and desist order that forced it to rename its products. Forever 21 and designer Isabel Marant also missed the memo that the tribe has a trademark on its name; thanks to the Federal Indian Arts and Crafts act of 1990, it's illegal to claim a product is made by a Native American when it is not.

Hungary outlaws homeless people

2011-12-02T20:07:00.000-05:00

A new legal regulation has come into force in Hungary making homelessness punishable by a fine of around $600 (£384) or prison. MPs from the ruling conservative party proposed the regulation, on the grounds that Budapest could not cope with the large number of people on the streets.

Critics, including charities for the homeless, say it is unenforceable and that hostels lack sufficient places. The Hungarian capital is said to have some 10,000 homeless people.

According to an amendment to the local government act, passed by a strong majority in parliament last month, those found sleeping on the streets will first receive a warning. They can subsequently be imprisoned or ordered to pay the fine. The move has provoked widespread criticism, including from Hungary's human rights ombudsman.

Miklos Vecsei, deputy head of the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service, said the law had not been passed on the basis of any rational or professional criteria but because the public were fed up with the homeless. Budapest's capacity had been stretched to the limits but deep poverty needed to be cured, not banned, he argued.

Belarus bars man from breathing in public

2011-12-02T20:06:00.000-05:00

Belarussian authorities have prohibited a local businessman to breathe in a central square of the city of Baranovichi, saying it would violate the law on public rallies. Nikolai Chernous requested that City Hall allow him a two-hour breathing exercise near the downtown Lenin memorial, human rights center.

But the Baranovichi administration rejected the tongue-in-cheek request, saying it violated several clauses of the law on rallies, without elaborating. Chernous earlier tried to stage a bike rally and a marathon walk "against bureaucracy," but both were also banned.

Updated legislation on public rallies went into effect in Belarus this month despite a huge backlash from local and international rights groups and activists. The law now prohibits all kinds of unsanctioned public events, including pickets and flash mobs.

Law enforcement officials said the law is aimed at boosting public safety, but critics denounced the bill for an attempt to suppress all dissent by the authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, in power since 1994.

School cuffs burping teen

2011-12-02T20:05:00.000-05:00

A 13-year-old was handcuffed and hauled off to a juvenile detention for burping in class, according to a lawsuit filed against an Albuquerque school principal, a teacher and school police officer.

The boy was transported without his parents being notified in May after he "burped audibly" in PE class and his teacher called a school resource officer to complain he was disrupting her class. The lawsuit also details a separate Nov. 8 incident when the same student was forced to strip down to his underwear while five adults watched as he was accused of selling pot to another student; the boy was never charged.

The suit was one of two filed Wednesday by civil rights attorney Shannon Kennedy, who says she has been fighting the district and police for years over the use of force with problem children. She says a review of school and Bernalillo County records shows more than 200 school kids have been handcuffed and arrested in the last three years for non-violent misdemeanors.

In the second lawsuit filed Wednesday, the parents of a 7-year-old boy with autism accuse a school officer of unlawful arrest for handcuffing the boy to a chair after he became agitated in class. New Mexico law prohibits officers and school officials from restraining children under 11.

The suits come one year after the same attorney settled a class action lawsuit against the district that was prompted by the arrest of a girl who Kennedy said "didn't want to sit by the stinky boy in class." And Kennedy says she has a number of other cases she is preparing over treatment of students in Albuquerque by school officials, school police, city police and sheriff's officers.
"I am trying to get all the stake holders in a room to get people properly trained to prevent this from happening," Kennedy said.
Kennedy said the problem lies with the schools more than with the law enforcement agencies.
"It lands in the lap of the principal. There are good schools and bad schools. The principals ... who are handling their schools properly don't need to have children arrested. It's ridiculous."

A spokesman for Albuquerque Public Schools did not immediately return calls and emails seeking comment on Thursday. A police spokeswoman said the department does not comment on litigation.

One school board member, Lorenzo Garcia, said he had not seen and could not comment on the lawsuits, but he did say he was concerned about what appeared to be schools getting stuck on a "zero tolerance policy."
"Really, in my opinion, this really increases the whole idea of the schools-to-prison pipeline," he said.

Man wearing Frosty the snowman mask causes fear in town

2011-12-02T20:02:00.000-05:00

Four 911 callers had alarm in their voices. "He scared a little girl," one said. "There's somebody walking around with a mask," said another. A different person identified what triggered the calls. "Frosty the Snowman." With the remnants of an inflatable snowman over his head and a four-foot candy cane in his hand, "Frosty" was a one-man parade through downtown Vanceboro, North Carolina on Sunday night.

"I thought he was there to rob me," said Christina Squires, who was behind the counter of a tobacco shop when the man wearing a long carrot nose tapped on a store window. Then "he picked up the candy cane to show me it wasn't a weapon," Squires said.

While the sight caused considerable alarm for those interviewed, Vanceboro Police had not determined who was behind the mask. Chief William Turner said he had "more important" things to work on, adding that he was investigating separate cases, including a rape.

Jeffery Acker was behind the appearance. The spectacle was meant to be a merry one, according to the man behind the mask. "Christmas is everything to me. I love it," Acker said. "It was never an intention to be scary." Acker is not accused of doing anything illegal.

British schoolboy reunited with missing pet chicken thanks to Twitter user in America

2011-12-02T20:01:00.000-05:00

A schoolboy has been reunited with his missing pet chicken thanks to a Twitter user in America. Tom Cowley, aged 11, found himself asking the age-old question ‘why did the chicken cross the road?’ after discovering Ginger just meters from his home in Park View, Moulton. It turned out the Gingernut Ranger hen had simply crossed the A43 after escaping from the family’s garden.

But it took three days for Moulton School pupil Tom to be reunited with his pet, thanks to social media website Twitter. Tom’s mother, Louise, who runs a bakery business, said: “It was amazing. I was so sad I tweeted on my business account and a follower in America picked it up and retweeted it. We did look for her and asked neighbors but we’d given up.”

Two days after the search began, the retweet was seen by Catherine Inglis, founder of a website created to reunite lost pets with their owners. Catherine contacted Louise through the social media website and created posters, which Tom put up near the family’s home. One of the posters was spotted by Emma Maloret, a nursery worker at Tiny Horizons nursery, on the opposite side of the busy A43 in Park View.

Emma knew Ginger was safe in the nursery’s small farm, after a neighbor had alerted them thinking it was one of theirs. Tom was finally reunited with Ginger last Wednesday. Louise said: “It’s hilarious really. We’re absolutely delighted.”

Shoot Stunning Night Photos Like A Pro

2011-12-02T19:59:00.000-05:00

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When the sun goes down, Scott Martin's job begins. He's a night photographer and instructor in San Antonio, leading workshops to teach curious photogs the nuances of shooting in the dark. In this article, Martin shares a few tips. Try these out the next time you've got the itch to stalk the night with your camera.

Dutch Skywatcher Snaps Photos Of Stranded Russian Mars Probe

2011-12-02T19:58:00.001-05:00

The Russian Mars probe has been stranded in low-Earth orbit following an engine failure almost immediately after launch on November 8. Now, a Dutch skywatcher has photographed the troubled probe.

Astrophotographer and veteran satellite spotter Ralf Vandebergh tracked Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft as it passed over the southern Netherlands last Tuesday. Using a 10-inch telescope and a video camera, he snapped a series of images at a range of about 170 miles.

Mind-blowing amateur space photos

2011-12-02T19:58:00.000-05:00

This photograph — shot by Rolf Olsen of New Zealand — may appear rather unremarkable at first glance, but it's quickly becoming one of the most popular space pictures of the year. The image shows a new solar system named Beta Pictoris in its very first stages of life. Olsen's achievement marks the first time that an amateur astronomer has captured a solar system being born, and it's a feat that even professional stargazers have a difficult time capturing.
(Photo Courtesy of Rolf Olsen/Tecca)

See more photos at Tecca.com

How To Rate The Habitability Of Other Planets

2011-12-02T19:56:00.000-05:00

These days, every exoplanet discovery is still rich with excitement, as astronomers scrutinize each distant world and consider its possible characteristics. But this could get tedious pretty soon, as the number of confirmed exoplanets climbs into the thousands. When that happens, astronomers and especially astrobiologists will have to start sifting planets according to their interestingness.

A new paper to be published next month describes a new two-step ranking system to make this process easier. Unlike other astrobiology criteria, this new system doesn't assume that habitability only applies to a rocky place with liquid water.

Stonehenge Reveals New Clues of Ancient Worship

2011-12-02T19:55:00.000-05:00

Evidence of ancient worship comes from the discovery of two pits set in celestial alignment at the Stonehenge site.

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B.C.

2011-12-02T19:50:00.000-05:00

Turtle Eggs Communicate With Each Other to Coordinate Hatching

2011-12-02T19:49:00.000-05:00

It's often said that timing is everything, but for Australia's Murray short-necked turtles, hatching together is a matter of life or death. The turtle eggs coordinate their hatching so they find safety in numbers at their most vulnerable age.
But how do the eggs coordinate their hatchings? Turns out, unhatched eggs can communicate with one another:

Although all the eggs were laid at the same time, in the same nest, they experience radically different environments. Those at the top of the nest, buried in warmer sun-soaked soil, can be up to six degrees Celsius warmer than those at the bottom. That’s a problem because the embryos develop at different rates depending on how hot they are. Given the gradient of warmth in the nest, the topmost turtles should hatch well before their siblings at the bottom.
That’s not what happens. Ricky-John Spencer from the University of Western Sydney has found that the Murray River turtles can tell whether their clutch-mates are more or less advanced, and shift the pace of their own development accordingly. If their peers are racing ahead, they can play catch-up.

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Chimpanzees

2011-12-02T19:48:00.000-05:00

Why Chimps Eat Dead Wood and Other Plants

A look at the long list of plants and plant parts that chimps consume and how they help them.
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Chimpanzees Self-Medicate With Food

Chimps, like humans, learn from each other what foods can help cure what ails them.
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The world's biggest ever insect found in New Zealand

2011-12-02T19:44:00.000-05:00

An explorer has found the biggest insect ever on record - so large it can eat a carrot. She's called a Weta Bug and has a huge wing span of seven inches and weighs as much as three mice. Former park ranger Mark Moffett, 55, discovered the cricket-like creature up a tree on New Zealand's Little Barrier Island.

He spent two days searching for the creepy crawly which were thought to be extinct after Europeans brought rats to the island many years ago. American Mark, 53, said: "Three of us walked the trails of this small island for two nights scanning the vegetation for a giant weta. We spent many hours with no luck finding any at all, before we saw her up in a tree.

"The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found. She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away. She would have finished the carrot very quickly, but this is an extremely endangered species and we didn't want to risk indigestion.

"After she had chewed a little I took this picture and we put her right back where we found her." Mark, from Colorado, added: "We bug lovers hear a lot of people who think insects are inferior in some way because of their size, so it was great to see such a big insect. This became all the more amazing when we realized that this was the largest insect recorded."