Iowa town's roads well seasoned

Slush has never smelled so spicy.

City crews in the Des Moines suburb of Ankeny are using garlic salt to melt snow and ice on streets from Tuesday's storm. The salt was donated by Tone Brothers Inc., a top spice producer headquartered in Ankeny.

Public Works Administrator Al Olson said the company donated 18,000 pounds of garlic salt to use on its 400 miles of roads.

Olson doesn't have details, but he said the salt would have ended up in the landfill, so the company donated it. A telephone call Wednesday to Tone Brothers wasn't immediately returned.

Olson said the city mixed the garlic salt with regular road salt and it works fine. He said some road workers say it makes them hungry, but Olson doesn't recommend it to spice up lunch or dinner.

Fast-food worker laughs, tells robber to get a job

That's one way to put it ...

A San Antonio fast-food restaurant cashier laughed at a robbery suspect and told him to get a job if he wanted money during a failed holdup on Tuesday evening.

Police said the suspect approached the worker and demanded money, but the cashier laughed and apparently didn't realize the man was trying to hold up the place.

The suspect then allegedly pulled out a box cutter and demanded the cashier's wallet. The employee complied, but had no money in his billfold.

The suspect fled, but was caught by police who responded to the robbery call.

San Antonio police said the suspect is expected to be charged with aggravated robbery.

Santa gets parking ticket while delivering toys

It had to be in New York City, you know ...

Santa Claus has added a New York City traffic agent to his naughty list after she gave him a ticket while delivering gifts to children.

Chip Cafiero says he'll fight the $115 ticket he received in Brooklyn on Black Friday when he was dressed as Santa.

The 60-year-old retired schoolteacher was riding a horse-drawn carriage and handing out toys and candy canes. An SUV carrying the toys and protecting the horse from traffic was double parked next to him.

Santa says he yelled "Ho! Ho! Ho!" to get the traffic agent's attention because the SUV wasn't blocking traffic. But in his words, "This grinch just went ahead and fined me."

Local politician Martin Golden calls the parking ticket "ridiculous."

Police won't comment on it.

Big Girls Don't Cry

Fergie

NFL record-setter Slingin' Sammy Baugh dies at 94

People never forgot Slingin' Sammy Baugh.

Every day as many as four letters arrived at the West Texas ranch the pioneering quarterback called home.

Baugh, whose use of the forward pass took him to the Hall of Fame after a career with the Washington Redskins, died Wednesday night. He was 94.

Baugh, hampered by numerous health issues, died at Fisher County Hospital in Rotan.

Sammy Baugh was the last surviving member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's inaugural class of 1963.

After starring at TCU, "Slingin' Sammy" played with the Redskins from 1937 to 1952, leading them to the NFL title in his rookie season and again in 1942.

Baugh was the best all-around player in an era when versatility was essential. In 1943, he led the league in passing, punting and interceptions. In one game, he threw four touchdowns and also intercepted four passes. He threw six touchdowns passes in a game twice. His 51.4-yard punting average in 1940 remains the NFL record.

Science News

From Treehugger.com:

Faced with the stark truth that the numbers of U.S. students pursuing careers in science are dwindling rapidly, the EPA and the City College of New York have announced a joint effort to encourage and produce environmental scientists of diverse backgrounds to pursue their dreams in the field of environmental science and potentially wind up working for the EPA.

Of course, there’s always the reality that a career at the EPA may not fit the economic aspirations of such driven individuals, but there’s certainly cause for hope that the program through CCNY just may help fill the void at the EPA.

Article continues: EPA and CCNY in Joint Venture to Produce Environmental Scientists

Daily Horoscope

The daily horoscope for the day says;

Find a way around the congestion as much as possible.

Boy, they're good! (At stating the obvious - it is the holidaze, after all)

Our readers

Some of Carolina Naturally readers today hailed from:

Burgos, Spain; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Liverpool, England

Dahlangea, Georgia; Corvallis, Oregon; and Palos Hills, Illinois

Happiness is a warm gun

A rare version of The Beatles song from the The Beatles (aka the White Album)

There is no "I" in TEAM

True, the is no "I" in TEAM. But those who are forever going on about it conveniently leave out the portion following the comma and instead insert a period as if the phrase ending there.

The entire phrase:

There is no "I" in TEAM, but there is a ME!

And the ME is the one spouting the partial phrase extolling others to work to benefit the ME.

This date, from Henry David Thoreau's journal

December 17, 1851

"The pitch pine woods on the right of the Corner road. A piercing cold afternoon, wading in the snow. R. Rice was going to Sudbury to put his bees into the cellar for fear they would freeze. He had a small hive; not enough to keep each other warm. The pitch pines hold the snow well. It lies now in balls on their plumes and in streaks on their branches, their low branches rising at a small angle and meeting each other. A certain dim religious light comes through this roof of pine leaves and snow. It is a somber twilight, yet in some places the sun streams in, producing the strongest contrasts of light and shade."

Winter solstice is fast approaching

Winter solstice is fast approaching.
Time to take out that Yule log and light the first fire of the year.

Iraqi official says he's quitting over shoe-tosser

Iraq's parliament speaker announced his resignation Wednesday after a parliamentary session descended into chaos as lawmakers argued about whether to free a journalist who threw his shoes at the shrub.

After arguments erupted among lawmakers over the fate of the journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani said: "I have no honor leading this parliament and I announce my resignation." He did not offer a position on whether al-Zeidi should be freed.

*****

So, the saga continues ...

The shrub got less than what he deserves, but history will not let it remain that way - he will get 'what's coming to him' ... everyone does ... and in his case I don't think it will be a bed of rose petals - the thorns maybe, but definitely not the petals.

Most people understand their pets

Sixty-seven percent of pet owners say they understand their animals' woofs, meows or other sounds.

That's curious ... I thought everybody understood their pets!?

Those thirty-three percent who don't understand their pets must not be listening.

*****

One hundred percent of pets understand us ... some simply ignore what we're saying.

Thank U

Alanis Morissette

Damn, has it been ten years all ready?! This was the big hit in the last two months of 1998.

Gambling tycoon gives up $300M

A co-founder of an Internet gambling company and one of the world's richest people pleaded guilty Tuesday to violating the federal wire act and agreed to forfeit $300 million as part of a cooperation deal.

A smiling Anurag Dikshit, of the British colony of Gibraltar, entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to charges that he used the Internet to transmit interstate and foreign wagering information.
The charge carries a potential prison term of up to two years.

The 37-year-old citizen of India is the co-founder of PartyGaming, a Gibraltar online gambling company that offered casino and poker games and catered to a U.S. audience.
Dikshit signed a cooperation agreement and prosecutors indicated they may eventually submit a letter to the judge asking for leniency.
Dikshit and defense lawyer Mark Pomerantz declined to comment.

Prosecutors said in a release that Dikshit developed a proprietary software platform and directed the company's computer operations from 1998 through October 2006, when he also was PartyGaming's principal shareholder.

Bail was set at $15 million, but Dikshit was not required to post any cash or property, prompting Judge Jed S. Rakoff to ask what incentive Dikshit had to attend future court dates.
But prosecutors and Pomerantz agreed that Dikshit had demonstrated his desire to cooperate, in part by already paying $100 million to the U.S. Treasury and pledging to pay another $100 million within three months and the last $100 million installment by Sept. 30.

"Mr. Dikshit decided to come to the United States to enter the plea under his own volition. He's been interviewed in Europe.
We believe Mr. Dikshit is dedicated to following through," Pomerantz said.

Forbes magazine estimated Dikshit's worth last year at $1.6 billion, making him the 618th richest person in the world.

*****

And here you thought the courts were concerned with justice didn't you? This story proves it is not ... it is all about the Benjamins - always has been and always will be.
The judge will be proven correct on this too, Dikshit will go home and not make another appearance in a courtroom ... with a net worth of 1.6B, 300M is pocket change.

Ayn Rand's Message to the GOP Candidates

This is from 1961 and can be said verbatim today - the repugs haven't learned a damned thing.

Science News

Many strange new animals found in Southeast Asia

Scientists have discovered an average of two new species a week in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong River region. Unusual animals found in this incredibly rich and diverse habitat include Desmoxytes purpurosea, a pink millipede that spews cyanide to defend itself, and Heteropoda maxima, a spider that may be the world's largest with a 12 inch legspan. Find out more on National Geographic's slideshow of the animals, and at the World Wildlife Fund

Synthetic beach with temperature-controlled sand

Plans to build a beach with refrigerated sand at the new Palazza Versace hotel in Dubai are moving ahead:
1) A substructure of pipes will circulate coolant under the sand to keep guests' feet from getting burned.
2) Giant fans are also proposed to generate an "ocean breeze."

From the Times Online:

Soheil Abedian, founder and president of Palazzo Versace, said he believed it is possible to design a refrigerated beach and make it sustainable. “We will suck the heat out of the sand to keep it cool enough to lie on,” he said. “This is the kind of luxury that top people want...”

Versace's plans have shocked environmentalists. Rachel Noble, the campaigns officer at Tourism Concern, which promotes sustainable tourism, said that the carbon generated by such projects would contribute to climate change, whose worst effects would be felt by the poor.

“Dubai is like a bubble world where the things that are worrying the rest of the world, like climate change, are simply ignored so that people can continue their destructive lifestyles,” she said.

"Chill out, you beautiful people, the Versace beach is refrigerated"
"Cool Sand Likely To Make Environmentalists Hot"

Muppets of Burlesque in L.A.

From LA Weekly:

Vixen Violette as Fozzie Bear stepped on stage wearing a brown, terrycloth hoop dress and matching knee-high boots, dancing to Elvis Presley's "Teddy Bear"; Scarlett Letter as Sam the Eagle took to a podium to rant about the topic of nudity ("Outrageous!"); Anastasia Von Teaserhausen as the Swedish Chef hand-crafted a giant hamburger consisting of the various meats and cheeses that made up her skirt (plus the heads of lettuce she wore as a bra); Red Snapper did her best Elton John to "Crocodile Rock" and was attacked by a giant stuffed crocodile; a corseted and velvet gloved Vixen Magdalene gothed things up a bit with her Dr. Steel Show; Isabella Star as Miss Piggy auditioned to be an Opera star; Lux La Croix as Rizzo the Rat kicked off her heels, got gangster and bumped her tail to Dr. Dre's "Rat Tat Tat"; Jewel of Denial rocked out and stripped down to Emmet Otter's Riverbottom Nightmare Band; and Dizzy Von Damn! as Gonzo the Great closed out the night with excellent pasty twirling technique and a Muppet version of Frank Sinatra's "I Did It My Way."

"Muppet (of Burlesque) Show at Monday Night Tease"

Paranoimia

Art of Noise with Max Headroom

Man decked the halls with stolen Santas

A suspicious surplus of Christmas spirit led to the arrest of a man in Southern California. Westminster police say officers responded to a disturbance call at the house of 48-year-old Vuong Pham, where they found rooms overflowing with wicker reindeer, plastic snowmen and inflatable Santas.

For weeks people in Pham's Orange County neighborhood had reported a steady disappearance of lights, figures and faux trees from their front yards.

Police say they connected the thefts to Pham after looking through his house and arrested him Monday on suspicion of grand theft and possession of stolen property.

Officer Cameron Knauerhaze says it took three trucks to take all the Christmas contraband to the station. Police weren't clear on the motive.