CAROLINA NATURALLY: Sep 17, 2009

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

There's definitely something to be said for being idealistic, even for more practical types, like you.
You can be just as romantic as the next person, however, just as long as you know you stand a chance of having that dream become an actual reality.
In that case, your earthy nature will lead you toward a relentless pursuit of that dream -- which just might be the exact thing you're experiencing now.

The ideal dream ...

Olbermann Backs Carter's Assertion That Anti-Obama Sentiment is Racist, With Examples

Jimmy Carter's recent statements that much of the enmity and anger being directed at President Barack Obama is racism-based has drawn denials and criticism from the GOP. However, on his Wednesday show, Keith Olbermann said he could detail no less than three dozen separate incidents which appear to support Carter's assertion.

Keith puts it plainly yet again.

No health coverage tied to 45,000 deaths a year

Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year — one every 12 minutes — in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis released on Thursday.

Full Story

Lake Lure to honor Swayze

The residents of a North Carolina community where much of "Dirty Dancing" was filmed are planning a memorial service for star Patrick Swayze.

NC 'Dirty Dancing' Town Plans Swayze Memorial

The wing nuts come here

We want to say thanks to all our loyal readers and those just checking us out. You know a good thing when you see it.

However, judging from the amount of 'trogolodyte mail' we receive, we sure have the wing-nut fringe checking us out just as much as all you normal-brain-function people ... now if they could only spell and place two or more words together in a coherent fashion (hoping for correct punctuation and grammar is a pipe dream when it comes to them) it would be nice.

Airline staff pose a swine flu risk

Flight attendants and employees who move through a plane can leave germs, expert says.

The main threat?

Also:

Things airlines won't tell you

8 things airlines won't tell you

They don't have to honor your seat assignments, and airport luggage scales can be wrong.

What to do

Also:

Car that gets 240 miles to the gallon

Volkswagen debuts an engineering marvel that could hit showrooms as soon as 2013.

'Close to production'

Also:

A vist to Wal-Mart ... Beijing style

Seth Roberts made a list of 11 observations while shopping at a Wal-Mart in China.

Here are the first four.

They sell live turtles.
A whole display case is devoted to sea cucumbers.
Like any upscale American or Beijing supermarket, they have a sushi case. The prices are half what they’d be in America, but the pieces of fish are much thinner.
They cut up meat in front of you. A whole pig was being butchered on a table. A roast duck was being sliced for packaging.

Here's a slideshow about Wal-Marts in China.

Beijing Wal-Mart

Tea Baggers are angry (and?) that the socialist agenda didn't work so well

Or as John Cole puts it: The food here is terrible and the portions are too small.

From wsj blog:

Protesters who attended Saturday’s tea party rally in Washington found a new reason to be upset: apparently they are unhappy with the level of service provided by the subway system.

Rep. Kevin Brady asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t, in his view, adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally to protest government spending and government services.

Seriously, folks.

The Texas repugican on Wednesday released a letter he sent to Washington’s metro system complaining that the taxpayer-funded subway system was unable to properly transport protesters to the rally to protest government spending and expansion.

So, let's see if I got this straight.
The free market capitalists are mad that a socialist nanny-state-run transit system didn't adequately serve their needs.
Is that about it?

Here's a few suggestions, folks: take a cab, rent a car, hire a limo, spend some money.
Or, if you are too cheap to pop for any of that ... Walk!

John also states:

While it seems like blogging is easier with the wingnuts going so crazy, it actually is harder than you would think. what can I possibly say that would be clever or funny enough to top these stories?

Here, here! And, by the way - pass the popcorn ...

Better World

Better world: Screen your genes

Having your genes tested may not be much use to you, but what are you passing on to your children?

Better world: Get real

It's perfectly normal to be irrational. But when it comes to AIDS, vaccination and climate change, it can also be disastrous.

In Paleontological News

From BBC-Science:

Tiny ancestor is T. rex blueprint

A 3m-long dinosaur fossil from China which predates T. Rex by 125 million years is a blueprint for the mighty carnivore, say scientists.

T rex ancestor found in China

In Archaeological News

The daughter of a hippie has led archaeologists to the commune where she spent some of her childhood, and experts are now working there to retrieve beads and roach clips and other artifacts.

My youth has become an archaeological dig.

I didn't think we were that old?!

Is it just me or are the wing-nuts becoming more openly racist?

More ... is it just me or are the wing-nuts becoming more openly racist?

Lush Dimbulb is calling for the re-segregation of buses.

Cocaine Street

A small Kansas town is trying to figure out who littered the streets with several small bags of cocaine last weekend.

Bags Of Cocaine Litters Streets In Small Kansas Town

Could be a new approach to marketing?

With the price of Gold these days - paving the streets with cocaine is cheaper I suppose.

'Healthy' Pitfalls

Pitfalls in 'healthy' menu options

Restaurants’ light entrées are lower in calories, but can pack other diet hazards.

Salads with sodium overload

Also:

Email tips

Outlook email tips you don't know

These little-known tricks can make your email easier to use and more efficient.

Better search, calendar, contacts

Also:

Really Big Light Show

Jupiter's big light show explained

Scientists discover what's causing the spectacular auroras seen on the giant planet.

'Footprints'

Also:

Ocean temps in August were the hottest on record

Coming decade possibly the hottest in human history

If the ocean in your neck of the woods has started to feel a little more like bathwater over the last few months – fret not. You’re not alone. A new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association puts world ocean surface temps from June to August as the hottest since 1880, when the NOAA began dipping their thermometers into the deep blue seas.

According to data collected at the NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., from June to August, the worldwide ocean surface temperature was 62.5 degrees Fahrenheit – 1.04 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average of 61.5 degrees. .

Full Story

FBI mortgage fraud probes grow to 2,600 cases

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's caseload for mortgage fraud has continued to grow as homeowners cope with the shattered housing market, FBI Director Robert Mueller told the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.

Full Story

Heidi Fleiss Guilty on Drug Charges

Former "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss has been sentenced to three years probation after pleading guilty to felony drug charges in the rural Nevada town where she lives.

Fleiss' lawyer, Robert Hill, [both pictured] says Nye County District Court Judge John Davis in Pahrump followed terms of a plea deal at sentencing on Tuesday.

Fleiss pleaded guilty July 7 to unlawful use of methamphetamine and possession of the painkiller Hydrocodone without a prescription.

The charges stem from a Feb. 7, 2008, arrest outside a plumbing supply store in Pahrump, 96 kilometers west of Las Vegas.

Fleiss is 43. She moved to Nevada after serving prison time in California for running a prostitution ring.

Man Burned at Burning Man Burnt in Rebuffed Lawsuit

The state Supreme Court has refused to reinstate a lawsuit by a man who approached the flames at the Burning Man festival and got burned.

The justices voted unanimously Wednesday to deny review of an appeal by Anthony Beninati, who sought damages from the promoter of the annual celebration in the Nevada desert.

Beninati, a real estate manager from Los Angeles, was badly burned at the September 2005 event in Black Rock City, Nev. He was making his third visit to the weeklong festival, which ends with the torching of a 60-foot wood sculpture.

Once the Burning Man topples, some participants throw objects into the bonfire. Beninati approached with the photo of a friend who had recently died in a motorcycle accident.

He walked seven to 10 feet into the burning embers, with flames on either side of him, threw in the photo, took a few more steps forward, then tripped - over a hidden obstacle, he said - and fell into the fire.

He was badly burned on his hands and legs and was airlifted to a hospital.

Beninati's suit accused Black Rock City LLC, the San Francisco-based promoter, of negligently allowing people to approach the fire without safe pathways.

In a June 30 ruling, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said anyone who takes part in an event with obvious dangers - downhill skiing, mountain climbing or walking up to a bonfire - knowingly risks injury.

"The risk of falling and being burned by the flames or hot ash was inherent, obvious and necessary to the event," the court said in a 3-0 decision that upheld a judge's dismissal of the suit.

Evan Marshall, Beninati's lawyer, said Thursday that suits by people injured in risky activities have been dismissed in the past only when the plaintiff was in a dangerous profession, such as law enforcement, or took part in a hazardous sport.

Marshall said a jury should have been allowed to decide whether the promoter of a cultural event used reasonable care to protect participants from preventable injuries.

The case is Beninati vs. Black Rock, S175409.

Daily How To ...

How do you kill a circus?

Go for the juggler.

Daily Riddle

What does a man do standing up, a woman do sitting down and a dog do on three legs?

Shake hands

(OK I know where your minds were and you ought to be ashamed)

Terror mastermind Noordin Top killed in Indonesia

Score on for the good guys!

Special forces raided a hide-out Thursday and killed militant mastermind Noordin Muhammed Top, striking at the heart of the terrorist network behind a deadly campaign of suicide attacks in Indonesia, including the Bali nightclub bombings.

Terror mastermind Noordin Top killed in Indonesia