Santa Monica homeless veteran

Just another example of the way the cabal treats our troops!

or as McPain's economic advisor, Phil Gramm would refer to him - just another "whiner"

Student Researching Bacteria That Creates Ethanol Stabbed 47 Times

One of the two French research students found dead in a burnt-out London flat had been stabbed 196 times, the detective leading the murder investigation said today. His friend had 47 separate injuries.

An Imperial College spokesman said that Mr. Bonomo was studying a parasite which can spread from cats to human foetuses.

Mr. Ferez’s research was into bacteria which create ethanol for use as fuel.

Full Story: Times

In Satanist’s Custody Battle, The Law May Play Devil’s Advocate

“The T in Satan’s name inked on Jamie Meyer’s left leg is drawn to look like an upside-down cross. The crucifix suspended above his bed hangs upside down too. Meyer’s ex-wives say he also has turned their children’s lives upside down since he joined the Church of Satan—an organization that eschews spirituality and celebrates man’s selfish desires. One of Meyer’s ex-wives is citing his religious affiliation as the main reason an Indiana judge should restrict his visitation time to allow his three youngest daughters to attend Christian church. A Fulton County judge could decide the case Wednesday. “My children are my legacy,” said Meyer, 30, a factory worker. “It is because of them that I am still here today. I will always fight for my rights as a father.”

Across the nation, child-custody disputes involving religion are on the rise as the frequency of interfaith marriages and religious conversions increases and fathers become more active in their kids’ upbringing. Judges risk crossing the line between church and state, experts say, if they try to choose the religion in which a child should be raised.”

(Read the entire piece in the Chicago Tribune)

Oh, they were that kind of cookies!

“A teenager is suspected of delivering baskets of drug-laced treats to about a dozen police departments in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to police who charged him Tuesday with LSD possession. At least three officers have gotten sick. The 18-year-old man was arrested after taking cookies to the Lake Worth police station, said Brett McGuire, the suburb’s police chief.

Officers there had been tipped off that someone was falsely claiming to deliver treats on behalf of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. “Our officers took a good whiff and thought they smelled like marijuana,” McGuire said, adding that preliminary tests instead detected traces of LSD. Christian Phillips was taken into custody and later charged with possession of the powerful hallucinogen, although the charge may be changed, McGuire said.

The suspect denied trying to contaminate the goodies or harm anyone and said one of his friends might have been smoking pot while Phillips was baking, McGuire said. The suspect is not affiliated with MADD, the chief said.”

The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1

Food prices are climbing, and some might be looking to fast foods and packaged foods for their cheap bites. But low cost doesn’t have to mean low quality. In fact, some of the most inexpensive things you can buy are the best things for you. At the grocery store, getting the most nutrition for the least amount of money means hanging out on the peripheries—near the fruits and veggies, the meat and dairy, and the bulk grains—while avoiding the expensive packaged interior. By doing so, not only will your kitchen be stocked with excellent foods, your wallet won’t be empty.

Read more from The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1

Sam & Ella are deadly

The number of people sickened in the ongoing salmonella outbreak has now surpassed 1,000, and while certain types of tomatoes remain the suspected cause, U.S. health officials on Wednesday added hot peppers and cilantro as potential suspects.

"We continue to get new reported cases every day," Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the division of foodborne, bacterial and mycotic diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a late afternoon teleconference. "This is the largest foodborne outbreak in the United States."

Since the outbreak began in April, 1,017 people in 41 states, the District of Columbia and Canada have fallen ill, and at least 203 people have been hospitalized. One death -- a Texas man in his 80s -- has been associated with the outbreak. Also, a man in his 60s who died in Texas from cancer had a Salmonella Saintpaul infection at the time of his death, the CDC reported Wednesday on its Web site.

In addition, according to the CDC, 300 of those people became ill after June 1.

An initial investigation of the outbreak, in New Mexico and Texas, suggested raw tomatoes as the likely source of the contamination. But a larger, nationwide study comparing persons who were ill in June found that those who were sickened were likely to have recently eaten raw tomatoes, as well as fresh jalapeno and serrano peppers, and fresh cilantro. These foods are typically consumed together, the CDC said.

Recently, many clusters of illnesses have been identified involving people who had eaten in restaurants. In one cluster, illnesses were linked to consumption of an item containing fresh tomatoes and fresh jalapeno peppers. In another two clusters, illnesses were linked to a food item containing fresh jalapeno peppers, leading federal officials to believe that jalapeno peppers caused some of the reported illnesses, the CDC said.

However, "at this we have not found any samples of tomatoes or peppers positive for Salmonella Saintpaul," Steve Sundlof, director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, told reporters at the teleconference.

Tauxe added, "Neither tomatoes nor jalapenos explain the entire outbreak at this point. We're presuming that both of them cause illness."

When it comes to tomatoes, officials said the advice to consumers remains the same: Avoid raw red plum, red Roma, round red tomatoes, and products containing these raw tomatoes.

On Wednesday, Tauxe added that people at risk of infection, including infants and elderly people, should avoid eating jalapeno peppers.

Salmonella is a bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhea in humans. Some 40,000 cases of salmonellosis are reported in the United States each year, although the CDC estimates that because milder cases are not diagnosed or reported, the actual number of infections may be 30 or more times greater. Approximately 600 people die each year after being infected.

However, the strain of Salmonella Saintpaul had been previously considered rare. In 2007, according to the CDC, there were only three people infected in the country during April through June.

*****

Visit the CDC for more on the salmonella outbreak.

Crystal Skulls: Facts and Fictions

Some mysteries are such fun you almost don't want to know the truth. That may help explain why people are fascinated with crystal skulls.

Happy to share the spotlight with the latest Indiana Jones movie, the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History is putting its crystal skull on display starting Thursday.

"People like to believe in something greater than themselves," Smithsonian anthropologist Jane MacLaren Walsh said, and crystal skulls are mysterious and beautiful.

The skulls "are a fascinating example of artifacts that have made their way into museums with no scientific evidence to prove their rumored pre-Columbian origins," she added.

Crystals carved into the shape of a human skull fed the 19th century's need for drama and mystery and its fascination with death. They were supposed to be the creation of ancient Mesoamericans - Aztecs, Mixtecs, Toltecs, perhaps Maya.

The skulls were claimed to represent the art and religion of these peoples. Some even said the skulls had special, even supernatural, powers.

Scientists say it ain't so.

Nonetheless, the giant crystal skull that mysteriously arrived at the Smithsonian 16 years ago is out of its locked cabinet in Walsh's office and will be on public view until Sept. 1.

Studying this skull led Walsh to extend her investigation into crystal skulls in other museums and to conclude that all are fakes, made in the 19th and 20th centuries.

"In the past, most carved skulls were assumed to be ancient," she said. After all, why would someone go to the trouble of faking one?

Still, she is glad it arrived at her doorstep and prompted the study. "This particular object has told us a whole new story," she said.

The museum's director, Cristian Samper, said people often ask him if there is a real Indiana Jones doing archaeological work.

"I tell them there are several," he said. "People doing field work that is every bit as interesting."

Of the many crystal skulls in museums and private collections around the world, the Smithsonian's is one of the largest, at 10 inches high and weighing 30 pounds. It was mailed to the museum anonymously, accompanied by a note claiming it was of Aztec origin.

It isn't, Walsh said.

The skulls were carved from blocks of quartz - sometimes called rock crystal - and show the marks of modern carving tools. That means they were not made before the 19th century. The Smithsonian one, she said, seems to have been made between 1950 and 1960.

Indeed, no crystal skulls have ever been found at an archaeological site.

True, skulls appear in Aztec and Toltec art. But, as scientists point out, they always were carved in relief in basalt, a dark rock.

Scientists think the crystal skulls were made in Europe and Mexico, most in the 19th century, a period when there was a thriving market in antiquities, real and fake.

What about their claimed special powers?

Here's what the British Museum has to say:

"Large quartz crystal skulls have generated great interest and fascination since they began to surface in public and private collections during the second half of the 19th century. The British Museum views the skull in its collection as an enigmatic object of great interest but with no supernatural properties."

None of this, though, discourages movies from featuring crystal skulls or museums from joining in. Indeed, in addition to putting its skull on display, the Smithsonian is reporting on the topic in Smithsonian Magazine's July issue and featuring the skulls in a documentary Thursday night on the Smithsonian Channel.

Crystal skulls also are on public view at the British Museum in London and the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris.

___

Find out more about Crystal Skulls on the Net at:

Museum of Natural History: http://www.mnh.si.edu

Crystal Skulls: http://anthropology.si.edu/crystal_skulls

British Museum: http://www.britishmuseum.org

Musee do Quai Branly: http://www.quaibranly.fr/