People are outraged after Pennsylvania regulators say a drilling firm has met its obligations.
Also: 
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Spiderman with sword no match for clerk with broom
The Onslow County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina says Spider Man armed with a sword was no match for a convenience store clerk armed with a broom.
* A note to would-be crooks channeling their favorite superheroes: Just because you're wearing the mask, it doesn't mean you have super powers.
A twist in the basement kidnapping case?
Four people may face unprecedented charges for allegedly locking up mentally disabled adults.
Also: Ten children also found in US cellar horror case
Ten children have been found in the care of a woman accused of locking up four mentally-disabled people in a dank Philadelphia cellar, as a fourth person was arrested in the case.
First name lands woman in jail
A phone call to the police takes a very unexpected turn for Atlanta's Teresa Culpepper.
Also: 
The Top 50 Best Breakfasts Of The World
Breakfast is considered the most important meal of the day.
Different countries have different breakfast dishes. Take a look.
A Cafe That Sits Right On The Borderline Between Belgium And The Netherlands
Ten Words You Might Think Came from Science, But Are Really From Science Fiction
Last week the phrase 'blast off' was coined by E. E. Smith, an early science fiction author often referred to as 'the father of space opera.' The term appeared in Smith's 1937 story Galactic Patrol, when one character inquires of another, 'How long do you figure it'll be before it's safe for us to blast off?'
And it turns out blast off isn't the only scientific word or phrase with science fictional origins. Here's a list of nine more.
And it turns out blast off isn't the only scientific word or phrase with science fictional origins. Here's a list of nine more.
First look at birth of a planet
Astronomers photograph a planet 450 light years from Earth being formed out of gas and dust.
Also: Oldest sports manual unveiled
The document dates back to 200 A.D. and offers helpful pointers in Greek on a sport still in vogue today.
Also: Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut May Have Been Killed By Her Medicine
Queen Hatshepsut lived around 1450 B.C. A tiny flask owned by the queen, which is on exhibit in the permanent collection of the Egyptian Museum of the University of Bonn. may have held a deadly secret for 3,500 years, according to Head of the collection Michael Höveler-Müller and Dr. Helmut Wiedenfeld from the university's Pharmacology Institute.After two years of research it is now clear that the flacon did not hold a perfume but was a kind of skin care lotion or even medication for a monarch suffering from eczema.
The pharmacologists found a strongly carcinogenic substance. Queen Hatshepsut may have been killed by her medicine.
Ancient Images of a Mother Giving Birth Found
The Ancient Tradition Of Fishing With Cormorants
Cormorant fishing is an age-old art practiced in China and Japan (as well as a few other countries) that is long past its glory days. Today, it exists largely due to the tourism industry, but is no less intriguing for that fact.
Liberated Battery Hens Find a New Home in Prison
Photo: bhwt
It's the "only in Britain" category for this one... The British Hen Welfare Trust has proudly announced that it has rescued 20 battery hens and "re-homed" them in a high security prison for women.The jailbirds will live at the prison as part of a garden program offering educational and therapeutic projects to the inmates.
Article continues: Liberated Battery Hens Find a New Home in Prison
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Daily Drift
The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:
Today is not a day to hesitate when you see something wrong.
As soon as you walk outside your home today, you should deal with the issues at hand straight on -- and with vigor.
You can still be kind, and even charming, but you can't put things off any longer.
The small crises of your day must be nipped in the bud quickly, before they have the chance to grow into something ugly and overpowering.
Some of our readers today have been in:
Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Versailles, Ile-De- France, France
Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Rome, Lazio, Italy
London, England, United Kingdom
Bath, England, United Kingdom
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Dubrovnik, Dubrovacko-Neretvanska, Croatia
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Almaty, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Ankara, Ankara, Turkey
Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
Rustington, England, United Kingdom
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Mexico City, Distritro, Federal, Mexico
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia
Newbury, England, United Kingdom
Beirut, Beyrouth, Lebanon
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Nanterre, Ile-De-France, France
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Paderborn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
As, Askersus, Norway
Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Beligum
New Delhi, Delhi, India
Reims, Champagne-Ardenne, France
Chantilly, Ile-De-France, France
Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Versailles, Ile-De- France, France
Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Rome, Lazio, Italy
London, England, United Kingdom
Bath, England, United Kingdom
Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
Dubrovnik, Dubrovacko-Neretvanska, Croatia
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Almaty, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Ankara, Ankara, Turkey
Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
Rustington, England, United Kingdom
Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Mexico City, Distritro, Federal, Mexico
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia
Newbury, England, United Kingdom
Beirut, Beyrouth, Lebanon
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
Nanterre, Ile-De-France, France
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Paderborn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
As, Askersus, Norway
Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Beligum
New Delhi, Delhi, India
Reims, Champagne-Ardenne, France
Chantilly, Ile-De-France, France
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 Colonia, Ladson, Boise, Gastonia and more!
and in cities across the United States such as Colonia, Ladson, Boise, Gastonia and more!
Today is:
Today is Wednesday, October 19, the 292nd day of 2011.
There are 73 days left in the year.
Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
Hagfish Day.
Don't forget to visit our sister blog!
Was the US Declaration of Independence Legal?
When the Second Continental Congress declared American independence in 1776, it committed an act of rebellion against the established government over the area. It can be argued that the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which recognized this independence, made the act retroactively legal. What is less clear is whether the Declaration of Independence was lawful at the time. On October 31, British and American lawyers will meet at Benjamin Franklin Hall in Philadelphia to debate the issue. At the conclusion of the debate, members of the audience will vote on the question:The Brits will cite the historical illegality of secession movements generally and the treasonous nature of this one, given that the colonies were established by British citizens who pledged their loyalty to the king. A betting man might even expect a cite or two to writings of that great lawyer-statesman Abraham Lincoln, who dealt firmly with his own breakaway republic. And the barristers — assuming they aren’t shouted down — can be expected to dismiss as “trivial” the economic arguments of the poor colonists, such as that taxation-without-representation rot. The taxes went to defend them against the French, after all.
Thieves use trick from 'The Town'
A New York crew linked to 62 burglaries lifted a key technique from the bad guys in "The Town," police say. DNA
Also: Parent Made Teenage Daughter Fight with Sword and Armor as Medieval Punishment
Did your teenage child go to a party without your permission? Send her to her room ... to fetch the armor, then make her fight you with a wooden sword as her (medieval) punishment!That's what one Seattle, Washington, father did:
According to police, the teen was forced her to dress in armor and fight Fremon Seay with a wooden sword for two hours. Police also said Seay punched and beat his stepdaughter with a tree branch prior to the duel. Investigators said she collapsed from exhaustion.Child abuse or effective use of medieval-style punishment for today's rebellious youth?
The couple told officers they punished the teen for going to a party without their permission.
Investigators learned the couple is part of a group of Renaissance enthusiasts, who recreate fights from the medieval era.
Officers said the parents told them it was their right to discipline their child however they see fit.
Drunk father has daughter drive him to the store - she is only 9
A Michigan father, suspected of being drunk, is accused of having his 9-year-old daughter drive him to the store in his van while he sat in the passenger seat. Shawn Weimer, 39, was arrested after officers, alerted by a 911 call, pulled the van over, Brownstown Township Detective Lt. Robert Grant said. The girl was sitting behind the wheel in a child's booster seat.
"Are you sure the child's driving, sir?" the dispatcher asked the 911 caller. "Yes," he replied. "The guy at the gas station couldn't believe it, either." The daughter told officers her father had been drinking whiskey all night, took her out to drive, then decided to stop at the gas station, Grant said.
The detective said the girl's parents are separated, and she was with her father for the weekend. "Very sweet, intelligent little girl," he said. On store surveillance video, Weimer brags to a clerk at a service station about his daughter.
"I got a designated driver," he says. "Nine years old. Nine. Dad, drinking. Listen, we're leaving, and she's driving." The girl says, "And I parked." Grant said Weimer was "argumentative" with the arresting officers, saying it was his right to teach his daughter how to drive. He was charged with second-degree child abuse, a felony that could bring a four-year sentence.
"Are you sure the child's driving, sir?" the dispatcher asked the 911 caller. "Yes," he replied. "The guy at the gas station couldn't believe it, either." The daughter told officers her father had been drinking whiskey all night, took her out to drive, then decided to stop at the gas station, Grant said.
The detective said the girl's parents are separated, and she was with her father for the weekend. "Very sweet, intelligent little girl," he said. On store surveillance video, Weimer brags to a clerk at a service station about his daughter.
"I got a designated driver," he says. "Nine years old. Nine. Dad, drinking. Listen, we're leaving, and she's driving." The girl says, "And I parked." Grant said Weimer was "argumentative" with the arresting officers, saying it was his right to teach his daughter how to drive. He was charged with second-degree child abuse, a felony that could bring a four-year sentence.
Man charged with setting his house on fire after family members refused to leave
A 50-year-old Loris man was charged with arson after Horry County authorities said he set his house on fire because some family members refused to leave the property, according to Sgt. Robert Kegler with Horry County police.
Carl Preston Johnson, 50, was charged with third-degree arson and is being held at J. Reuben Long Detention Center, Kegler said.
Horry County firefighters were called to a home on Mason Lane near Loris on Monday for a residential fire, Kegler said. Fire investigators determined the blaze was started with some type of accelerant and called Horry County police detectives for an investigation.
Detectives learned Johnson set the fire due to family members who refused to vacate the property, Kegler said. No injuries were reported during the incident.
Carl Preston Johnson, 50, was charged with third-degree arson and is being held at J. Reuben Long Detention Center, Kegler said.
Horry County firefighters were called to a home on Mason Lane near Loris on Monday for a residential fire, Kegler said. Fire investigators determined the blaze was started with some type of accelerant and called Horry County police detectives for an investigation.
Detectives learned Johnson set the fire due to family members who refused to vacate the property, Kegler said. No injuries were reported during the incident.
Best Occupy Wall Street protest signs
One Alaskan in the tundra joins the chorus of demonstrators voicing their anger and making demands.
Also: #OccupyWallStreet, Protests in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Spain
Thanks in large part to social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, cities around the world stood together against capitalism and failed economic policies Saturday.
Profiting from protests
New York's ultra-rich are nervous, and that's become a bonanza for one industry.
Also: 
Older working Americans hit hard by recession
The under-30's are dealing with high unemployment and limited opportunity and seniors are hit hard by the recession with limited options in terms of earning their way through the recession. And then there's the over-55 crowd who need to still work but struggle to find employment after losing their jobs. All of these scenarios (and more) are terrible which is why Occupy Wall Street is such a no-brainer outside of the political and corporate elite class.
...Americans 55 and older have less time to catch up on retirement savings and recover from housing market losses before they stop working, the Government Accountability Office report found.
In addition, although older workers haven’t been as hard-hit by unemployment, government data show that when they do lose a job, they have a much tougher time finding a new one.
For many older Americans, the most immediate effect of the economic downturn has been the hit to their nest egg. The report noted that many older Americans simply don’t have time to wait for the stock market to recover and home values to start rising again.
Malaria vaccine shows promise in early testing
Again, it's early, but a positive sign. While malaria may not be a critical issue in the US, it's devastating in many other parts of the world. If this vaccine works, the problem then is how to address the cost because the likes of GlaxoSmithKline are not usually open to offering products at cost no matter how many lives they can save.
An experimental vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline halved the risk of African children getting malaria in a major clinical trial, making it likely to become the world's first shot against the deadly disease.
Final-stage trial data released on Tuesday showed it gave protection against clinical and severe malaria in five- to 17-month-olds in Africa, where the mosquito-borne disease kills hundreds of thousands of children a year.
"These data bring us to the cusp of having the world's first malaria vaccine," said Andrew Witty, chief executive of the British drugmaker that developed the vaccine along with the non-profit PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI).
Why Best Buy is struggling
A revolution in the way Americans buy is bad news for certain retailers.
Also: Money rules to live by
One of them could help you build up a savings fund worth $200,000 or more.
Also: Seven hidden-gem careers
These jobs offer less pressure and better hours than their traditional counterparts.
Also: Increase in stamp price
The cash-strapped agency announces a bump of a penny to mail a letter starting next year.
Also: 'Bargains' that aren't
Watch out for these so-called deals that could actually cost you money.
Also: Heavy rains help produce bounty of mushrooms in NE
A Simpleton's Guide to Science
Terms
Relativity: Family get-togethers at Christmas.
Gravity: Strength of a glass of beer.
Time travel: Throwing the alarm clock at the wall.
Black holes: What you get in black socks.
Critical mass: A gaggle of film reviewers.
Hyperspace: Where you park at the superstore.
Facts
Gravity was discovered by Sir Isaac Newton. It is chiefly noticeable in the autumn, when the apples are falling off the trees.
You can listen to thunder after lightning and tell how close you came to getting hit. If you don't hear it, you got hit, so never mind.
When people run around and around in circles, we say they are crazy. When planets do it, we say they are orbitting.
The tides are a fight between the Earth and moon. All water tends towards the moon, because there is no water in the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum.
The moon is more useful than the sun, because the moon shines at night when you want the light, whereas the sun shines during the day when you don't need it.
To remove air from a flask, fill it with water, tip the water out, and put the cork in quick before the air can get back in.
Isn't it meaningless to speak of a 45 degrees angle unless you specify Fahrenheit or Celcius?
An object at rest will always be in the wrong place. An object in motion will always be headed in the wrong direction.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
Doppler effect is the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when you come at them rapidly.
Relativity: Family get-togethers at Christmas.
Gravity: Strength of a glass of beer.
Time travel: Throwing the alarm clock at the wall.
Black holes: What you get in black socks.
Critical mass: A gaggle of film reviewers.
Hyperspace: Where you park at the superstore.
Facts
Gravity was discovered by Sir Isaac Newton. It is chiefly noticeable in the autumn, when the apples are falling off the trees.
You can listen to thunder after lightning and tell how close you came to getting hit. If you don't hear it, you got hit, so never mind.
When people run around and around in circles, we say they are crazy. When planets do it, we say they are orbitting.
The tides are a fight between the Earth and moon. All water tends towards the moon, because there is no water in the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum.
The moon is more useful than the sun, because the moon shines at night when you want the light, whereas the sun shines during the day when you don't need it.
To remove air from a flask, fill it with water, tip the water out, and put the cork in quick before the air can get back in.
Isn't it meaningless to speak of a 45 degrees angle unless you specify Fahrenheit or Celcius?
An object at rest will always be in the wrong place. An object in motion will always be headed in the wrong direction.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
Doppler effect is the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when you come at them rapidly.
Faster than light Neutrinos? Not so fast!
The saga of the superluminal neutrinos took a dramatic turn with the publication of a very simple yet definitive study by ICARUS.
Was The First Photographed UFO A Comet?
On August 12, 1883, Mexican astronomer José Bonilla was preparing to study the Sun at the recently opened Zacatecas Observatory. However, the Sun's surface was marred by numerous objects quickly travelling across its disk. Over the course of the day and the next, Bonilla exposed several wet plates to take images of the 447 objects he would observe.
They weren't released publicly until January 1st, 1886 when they were published in the magazine L'Astronomie. Since then, UFOlogists have crowned these photographs as the first photographic evidence of UFOs. The chief editor of L'Astronomie passed the observations off as migrating animals, but a new study proposes the observation was due to the breakup of a comet that nearly hit us.
Vietnam War bunker found
A worker stumbles across a 7-room landmark that was all but forgotten after the war.
Also: Viking boat burial site uncovered
The five meter-long grave contained the remains of a high-status Viking who was buried with an axe, sword and spear.
Bear cub found in produce aisle
Shoppers in a grocery store in Alaska find a cute baby bear hiding amid the vegetables.
Also: Sea Turtles' First Journey
Exotic animals on loose in Ohio
Police hunt down lions, leopards, and dozens of other beasts after the owner of a preserve is found dead.
Also: The Jaguar Freeway
Jaguars are the largest native cat in the Western Hemisphere. They once flourished, but now are endangered thanks to centuries of hunting and habitat loss. The only protected jaguar reservation is in Belize, where they are thriving and drawing tourists, but those cats are separated from other jaguar populations that live (and are declining) in other countries. Jaguar expert Alan Rabinowitz, the CEO of conservation organization Panthera, has a plan to open up pathways to connect various jaguar populations.Panthera’s Jaguar Corridor Initiative aims to connect 90 distinct jaguar populations across the Americas. It stems from an unexpected discovery. For 60 years, biologists had thought there were eight distinct subspecies of jaguar, including the Peruvian jaguar, Central American jaguar and Goldman’s jaguar. But when the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity in Frederick, Maryland, part of the National Institutes of Health, analyzed jaguar DNA from blood and tissue samples collected throughout the Americas, researchers determined that no jaguar group had split off into a true subspecies. From Mexico’s deserts to the dry Pampas of northern Argentina, jaguars had been breeding with each other, wandering great distances to do so, even swimming across the Panama Canal. “The results were so shocking that we thought it was a mistake,” Rabinowitz says.An extensive article at Smithsonian tells of the jaguar’s life in the wild, how this plan came about, and how it might just work -if the many obstacles can be overcome.
Panthera has identified 182 potential jaguar corridors covering nearly a million square miles, spanning 18 nations and two continents. So far, Mexico, Central America and Colombia have signed on to the initiative. Negotiating agreements with the rest of South America is next. Creating this jaguar genetic highway will be easier in some places than others. From the Amazon north, the continent is an emerald matrix of jaguar habitats that can be easily linked. But parts of Central America are utterly deforested. And a link in Colombia crosses one of Latin America’s most dangerous drug routes.
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