Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Best new and improved frozen dinners
Best new and improved frozen dinners
Freezer skillet kits and ready-to-bake options are healthier and tastier than ever before.
What paperwork to keep, and what to toss
What paperwork to keep, and what to toss
Many of the documents you're saving in the file cabinet are simply creating clutter.
Give yourself a $200 raise right now
Give yourself a $200 raise right now
A simple adjustment to your W-4 form can result in a much bigger paycheck each month.
How to dine alone without feeling awkward
How to dine alone without feeling awkward
Eating solo at a restaurant can be fun if you know what to bring and where to sit.
New tax deductions and credits to know
New tax deductions and credits to know
All taxpayers will benefit from changes in this year's filing — some a lot more than others.
Top 8 excuses for not working out
Top 8 excuses for not working out
"The Biggest Loser" trainer Jillian Michaels has answers to your reasons for not being fit.
What a trio
Three friends die in a car accident and they go to an orientation in heaven. The attending angel asks each, "When you are in your coffin, and family and friends are mourning you, what would you like to hear them say about you?"
The first guy says, "I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor and a good family man."
The second guy says, "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and that, as a teacher, I made a terrific difference in the lives of the children I taught."
The third guy says, "I would like to hear them say, 'Look - he's moving!'"
The first guy says, "I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor and a good family man."
The second guy says, "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and that, as a teacher, I made a terrific difference in the lives of the children I taught."
The third guy says, "I would like to hear them say, 'Look - he's moving!'"
Three Stories
Escaped hippo returns to its zoo on its own
In the end, the zoo keeper was right. The 2-ton hippo that escaped from a zoo in Montenegro has returned home, without hurting anyone.
Zowie! Chili sauce lands teens in hospital
Officials in Germany say eight teenagers were hospitalized after a test of courage in which they drank chili sauce more than 200 times hotter than normal.
Peacock Invasion Worries Homeowners
Something special is drawing some colorful neighbors to William and Barbara Doneghy 's backyard, but they're not sure what.
Utah man asks to 'plead up' for more prison time
A Utah man has chosen to fight heroin addiction by spending more time in jail. Damon Conrow was sentenced Tuesday on a charge of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance after asking to "plead up" to a first-degree felony.
Utah man asks to 'plead up' for more prison time
Utah man asks to 'plead up' for more prison time
Keep Walkin'
Ladies in Waynesboro Can't Drive Up Main Street Unless Husband Walks in Front
It is illegal for any woman in Waynesboro, Virginia to drive a car up Main Street - unless her husband is walking in front of the car waving a red flag.
Full story
Full story
Sundarbans' Tigers Further Pushed Towards Extinction by Rising Sea Levels
From Treehugger:
photo: Suvajit Sengupta via flickr.
Just 28 centimeters of sea level rise will eliminate 96% of remaining habitat for Bengal tigers in the Sundarbans mangroves of India and Bangladesh, likely reducing the breeding population to less than 20 individuals a new WWF study shows. In other words, essentially dooming the current population of 250-400 to extinction. And remember that even under optimistic sea level rise projections, by 2100 some 50cm is likely. So what to do about it?
Article continues: Sundarbans' Tigers Further Pushed Towards Extinction by Rising Sea Levels
Blessed are the orangutan peacemakers
A new video captures one orangutan mediating peace "talks" between two other, fighting, orangutans. (You'll have to go to the BBC story to watch.)
Over 13 days of observations, another much older female called Chappy, thought to be 34 years old, became repeatedly aggressive toward Kiki, either chasing or physically attacking her on 28 separate occasions. During 19 of these interactions, another orangutan intervened, physically stepping between the two squabbling apes to separate them. Most of the time the peacemaker was an elder female orangutan called Gypsy, who is thought to be 51 years old.
Researchers said this was the first time peacemaking behavior has been observed in orangutans, which are, in the wild, loners. Basically, it looks as though this group of captive orangutans—forced to live together—have learned a behavior that's previously only been known among more social apes, such as chimpanzees and gorillas.
Blueberry juice for better memory
A new study supports the belief that ingesting blueberries can improve memory. Robert Krikorian of the University of Cincinnati's Department of Psychiatry and his colleague published a paper suggesting that the anthocyanins in the berries may boost neuronal signaling and help get rid of glucose in the brain, both of which would slow the death of brain cells.
From the American Chemical Society:
In the study, one group of volunteers in their 70s with early memory decline drank the equivalent of 2-2 l/2 cups of a commercially available blueberry juice every day for two months. A control group drank a beverage without blueberry juice. The blueberry juice group showed significant improvement on learning and memory tests, the scientists say. "These preliminary memory findings are encouraging and suggest that consistent supplementation with blueberries may offer an approach to forestall or mitigate neurodegeneration," said the report.
Scientists Show How Brain Tumors Outsmart Drugs
Researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores UCSD Cancer Center have shown one way in which gliomas, a deadly type of brain tumor, can evade drugs aimed at blocking a key cell signaling protein, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR),that is crucial for tumor growth. In a related finding, they also proved that a particular EGFR mutation is important not only to initiate the tumor, but for its continued growth or “maintenance” as well.
How the US exports its mental illnesses
Western notions of mental illness are one of the US's most insidious exports - and they are spreading around the world like a contagion, says Ethan Watters.How the US exports its mental illnesses
Brain asymmetry eases hypnotic trance
People who are easily hypnotized may have one brain hemisphere that works more efficiently than the other.Brain asymmetry eases hypnotic trance
A new direction for gravity
Newton and Einstein described gravity, but not where it comes from. Has a physicist now found its root cause at last?The entropy force
Smart mud could be the new plastic
A mixture of clay and water produces a strong self-healing hydrogel that could help wean the world off oil.Smart mud could be the new plastic
Approaching Earth makes asteroids go pale
Asteroids that venture too close to our planet suffer cataclysmic landslides, explaining why they look so fresh-faced.Approaching Earth makes asteroids go pale
Award Lost?
 |  | The winner of a major wildlife photography award is disqualified because the wolf featured in his photograph was likely a "model". |
Cop News
In Cop News
Florida cop gets two months for stealing $15,000 from "Crime Stoppers" program
Lawsuit filed against Texas police department for tasing incident
Video shows California cops arresting spectators at NFL playoff game for cheering visiting team
Virginia police captain quits after being charged with car theft
Connecticut cop, wife charged with tampering with evidence
San Francisco Police fire detective for "litany of misconduct"
Minnesota police chief gets administrative leave (paid vacation) for conducting criminal background checks on council members and spouses
Iowa cops won't identify cop who tasered store clerk for having seizure
Florida trooper charged with receiving unlawful compensation for official behavior
Florida cop gets two months for stealing $15,000 from "Crime Stoppers" program
Lawsuit filed against Texas police department for tasing incident
Video shows California cops arresting spectators at NFL playoff game for cheering visiting team
Virginia police captain quits after being charged with car theft
Connecticut cop, wife charged with tampering with evidence
San Francisco Police fire detective for "litany of misconduct"
Minnesota police chief gets administrative leave (paid vacation) for conducting criminal background checks on council members and spouses
Iowa cops won't identify cop who tasered store clerk for having seizure
Florida trooper charged with receiving unlawful compensation for official behavior
Liars and Fools
Liars and Fools: The Glen Brick Edition
Faux's Glen Brick lies saying the progressive movement has "set its sights on the destruction of the Constitution".
Nope, that was your crowd there crybaby. Did a hell of a lot of damage to it but we stopped you.
Faux's Glen Brick in his delusional state 'warns' that progressive "vampires" have a "taste of blood" and are "gonna start getting more and more violent".
Here again this douchebag is ass backwards. The violence has always come from the "conservative" (to be polite about it) element of any society since the dawn of time and before ... the wingnuts today are no different.
Faux's Glen Brick lies saying the progressive movement has "set its sights on the destruction of the Constitution".
Nope, that was your crowd there crybaby. Did a hell of a lot of damage to it but we stopped you.
Faux's Glen Brick in his delusional state 'warns' that progressive "vampires" have a "taste of blood" and are "gonna start getting more and more violent".
Here again this douchebag is ass backwards. The violence has always come from the "conservative" (to be polite about it) element of any society since the dawn of time and before ... the wingnuts today are no different.
Greensboro files lawsuit to shut down strip club
Grreensboro, North Carolina, city attorneys filed a lawsuit and obtained a temporary restraining order this afternoon as the first step to shut down a Greensboro night/strip club complex where a man was carjacked and fatally shot last April.Attorneys filed paperwork in Guilford County Superior Court at 1 p.m. in High Point against Sugar Bare Entertainment Inc. which owns both the Lost Dimensions strip club and the Bares Den nightclub, both housed at 510 Farragut St.
Signs at the businesses indicate the clubs have changed their names to Bare Villa and Nakitas Play Room. The city records show the businesses operating under numerous names.
Assistant City Manager Denise Turner said that the city is acting on allegations that gambling, prostitution and numerous alcohol violations are occurring at the businesses.
“This temporary restraining order is the first step in the nuisance abatement process,” Turner said in a phone interview.
While the temporary restraining order doesn’t immediately shut the business down, it’s the first step in the process of the city doing so through civil litigation.
“This prohibits them from continuing to engage in illegal activity,” Turner said. “Typically the experience is that the business will cease operation.”
Turner said the alleged ABC violations at the business regard customers of Bare’s Den being solicited to come into Lost Dimensions. Today's legal action does not immediately suspend Bare's Den from selling alcohol. She said it is illegal for the establishments to mix the adult entertainment with the nightclub.
In 10 days, the city will be in court to invoke a preliminary injunction against the business, which if approved by a judge, would shut the clubs down until the matter can be resolved in court.
The city's concerns about the clubs were renewed on April 12, 2009 with 30-year-old Carlton Smith was fatally shot in their parking lot while he attempted to stop a carjacking.
The vehicle taken in the robbery, a Dodge Charger, was later recovered burned in Darlington, S.C. The killing remains unsolved.
Smith’s mother, Mary Smith, made a plea to City Council in May to prevent another killing at the clubs.
“I pray another mother never has to what I’m going through,” Mary Smith told the council.
The homicide was the second at that location in the past four years, prompting the city to take a closer look at the club’s crime statistics and see if it qualified for civil closure under the state’s nuisance abatement laws.
Club owner Darryl McCarroll told City Council in late April that he felt his club was being unfairly targeted for issues beyond its control – putting much of the blame on the Budget Inn next door at 512 Farragut St.
A fence has since been built between the two businesses to prevent customers from easily moving back and forth. McCarroll was not immediately available for comment this afternoon.
From April 2007 to April 2009, the police department reported officers were called to the nightclub 115 times. Updated statistics were not immediately available from Greensboro police.
The city had previously looked at closing the club in 2007, but efforts slowed after the Guilford County District Attorney’s Office declined to pursue the case, saying such action is the responsibility of the city’s legal department.
If the case is successful, it will be the first time the city has shut down a business through nuisance abatement in the past 12 years.
John Ensign - Criminal
A repugican sex and money scandal involving John Ensign is now the subject of a criminal investigation:
The Justice Department has begun a preliminary investigation into actions by Sen. John Ensign (r-Nev.), who arranged to provide money and career assistance to the husband of his mistress, sources familiar with the case said Tuesday.
The tentative investigation is being run jointly by the Justice Department, the FBI's Washington Field Office and the U.S. attorney's office in the District, one federal law enforcement official said.
Ensign acknowledged last year that he had an extramarital relationship with former staffer Cynthia Hampton and that his parents paid nearly $100,000 to Hampton and her husband, Doug, as a gift. Doug Hampton has also told reporters that Ensign knowingly ignored ethics restrictions by helping him get a lobbying job and access to federal officials, according to news reports.
There's probably some secret Senate rule that would allow Ensign to keep filibustering even if he's in jail. And if there isn't the repugicans will claim there is one anyway ... as long as they are the only ones allowed to use it.
Repugicans have values?
From Susie Madrak on Crooks and Liars.
I've been writing for years that the core Republican value boils down to this: cheap, disposable labor.
They want the workforce battered to the point where they will be grateful for any kind of work, no matter how badly paid or how poor the working conditions - and they want you stripped of any rights in the workplace that might slow them down while making money.
I was reminded of that this basic truth this morning when I read George Will's latest column:
Today's unemployment rate is 10 percent; the underemployment rate—the unemployed, plus those employed part time, plus those discouraged persons who have stopped looking for jobs—is 17.3 percent. Almost 40 percent of the unemployed have been so for seven months or more—which is not surprising: Congress continues to extend eligibility for unemployment benefits, apparently oblivious to the truth that when you subsidize something you get more of it.
He's not talking about the Wall Street Bankers who got us into this mess, of course. He's chiding people who are on unemployment for not taking anything they can get, under any conditions.
*****
Well said, Susie, well said.
Well said, Susie, well said.
Carp DNA Is Found in Lake Michigan
Genetic material from the Asian carp, a voracious invasive species long feared to be nearing the Great Lakes , has been identified for the first time at a harbor within Lake Michigan, near the Illinois-Indiana border, ecologists and federal officials said Tuesday.
Supreme Court Rules on Trial Conduct in Georgia
Unusual practices in Georgia trial courts, including off-color gifts to court personnel from jurors in a capital case, were the subjects of a pair of unsigned Supreme Court decisions on Tuesday.
You mean there's "conduct" in Georgia courtrooms?
How to Quit Nervous Habits
How to quit nervous habits and bad habits like nail-biting, thumb-sucking, overeating and smoking.
How to Quit Nervous Habits
How to Quit Nervous Habits
Heart group reveals 7 keys to long life
Heart group reveals 7 keys to long life
Together, these factors act as a "fountain of youth," the American Heart Association reports.
The amphibious Asian mystery cat
A flat-headed cat with webbed feet? Such an animal exists – but it's on the last of its nine lives, and only cloning might give it another.Zoologger
Hotel staff get in your bed for free
Holiday Inn will trial a free five-minute human bed warming service - where a member of staff, dressed head to foot in an all-in-one sleeper suit, warms up the bed until it's nice and toasty.
Ok, if you say so ...
Big Fail As Man Blows Two Different Armed Robberies
A man needs some lessons in armed robbery, as he blew two consecutive armed robbery attempts space only 30 minutes apart.
Of course, he did manage to succeed in one thing: he got away from both.
Of course, he did manage to succeed in one thing: he got away from both.
Trail of dust may point to fresh violence in asteroid belt
A smashup between two asteroids may explain a mysterious streak of dust that appeared just weeks ago – if so, it would be the first sign of such a collision in modern times.Trail of dust may point to fresh violence in asteroid belt
More choose to walk away from mortgages
More choose to walk away from mortgages
Despite the consequences, more people are intentionally defaulting on their mortgages.
Strong new earthquake hits Haiti
Strong new earthquake hits Haiti
A magnitude-6.1 temblor shakes buildings and sends screaming people running into the streets.
Powerful aftershock rattles Haiti
A magnitude 6.1 aftershock since last week's devastating Haiti earthquake rattled Port-au-Prince this morning
Science News
From BBC-Science:
 | | The decline of honeybees seen in many countries may be due to reduced plant diversity, research suggests. |
THE BIG PICTURE
Today is ...
Today is Wednesday, Jan. 20, the 20th day of 2010.
There are 345 days left in the year.
There are 345 days left in the year.
Today In History January 20
Today's unusual holidays and celebrations are:
Camcorder Day
and
National Disc Jockey Day
Camcorder Day
and
National Disc Jockey Day
Our Readers
Some of our readers today have been in:
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Vina Del Mar, Valparaiso, Chile
Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Winfield, British Columbia, Canada
Doncaster, England, United Kingdom
London, England, United Kingdom
Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Athens, Attiki, Greece
as well as Puerto Rico, and the United States
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Vina Del Mar, Valparaiso, Chile
Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Winfield, British Columbia, Canada
Doncaster, England, United Kingdom
London, England, United Kingdom
Budapest, Budapest, Hungary
Athens, Attiki, Greece
as well as Puerto Rico, and the United States
Daily Horoscope
Today's horoscope says:
Your family members have probably never been known for being shy, because you certainly aren't, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
And while they're not boring individuals and you love them for that, you may need to ask them nicely to tone their 'enthusiasm' down just a bit -- at least for tonight.
This goes double if you're in the mood to actually bring someone home to meet the entire crew.
Call ahead, and remind them that they owe you one.
This could be interesting.
Your family members have probably never been known for being shy, because you certainly aren't, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
And while they're not boring individuals and you love them for that, you may need to ask them nicely to tone their 'enthusiasm' down just a bit -- at least for tonight.
This goes double if you're in the mood to actually bring someone home to meet the entire crew.
Call ahead, and remind them that they owe you one.
This could be interesting.
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