The 45 Most Powerful Images Of 2001

Buzzfeed compiled a collection of images from the year’s news stories that will remind you how many really big events happened in 2011, from natural disasters to citizen protests to legislation to war. Pictured is a girl in isolation in order to assess her exposure to radiation after Japan’s nuclear facilities were compromised by the March earthquake. Link

New Batch of Giant Alien Worlds Found

The finding of 18 distant planets boosts a theory about how planets form. Read more

Measuring a Tiny, Yet Mighty, Black Hole

Astronomers have measured the vital statistics of the black hole living in the famous Cygnus X-1 binary system to a very high precision. The mass and physical size of the black hole may surprise you... Read more

NOAA: Arctic worse than in 2005

It's not surprising, but it's also to be expected. When you have one of the two parties that can't accept science and climate change, how can you combat the problem? More melting may be the new normal for the Arctic.

The report, written by 121 scientists from around the world, said statistics point to a shift in the Arctic health in 2006. That was right before 2007, when a mix of weather conditions and changing climate led to a record loss of sea ice, from which the region has never recovered. This summer's sea ice melt was the second worst on record, a tad behind 2007.

"We've got a new normal," said co-author Don Perovich, a geophysicist at the Army Corps of Engineers Cold Research and Engineering Lab. "Whether it's a tipping point and we'll never recover, who's to say?"

Magnetic Pole Reversal Happens All The (Geologic) Time

Scientists understand that Earth’s magnetic field has flipped its polarity many times over the millennia. In other words, if you were alive about 800,000 years ago, and facing what we call north with a magnetic compass in your hand, the needle would point to ‘south.’ This is because a magnetic compass is calibrated based on [...]

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Facebook finds the town too Effin rude for site

For most people adding the name of where they live on Facebook is relatively straightforward. A problem, however, arises when the place where you live is branded as offensive by the social networking site. One woman from Effin in County Limerick in the Irish Republic has so far been unable to add the village name to the 'home place' section of her Facebook profile.

Ann Marie Kennedy, who works in the department of nursing and midwifery at the University of Limerick, has now started an online campaign to to get Effin recognised. "I was born and raised in Effin and my family come from here," she said. "I am also directing a play, 'Effin Cinderella' this Christmas.

"I would like to be able to put Effin on my profile page and so would many other Effin people around the world to proudly say that they are from Effin, County Limerick, but it won't recognise that," she added. "It just won't let me add it. It just keeps giving suggestions such as Effingham, Illinois; Effingham, New Hampshire."

She said: "I'm a proud Effin woman and I always will be an Effin woman." The 47-year-old Effin native has now started an online campaign, although an attempt to set up a Facebook page called 'Please get my hometown Effin recognised' was also unsuccessful. "It came up with an error message that it was 'offensive'," she said.

More and More US Teenagers Prefer Surfing the Net to Driving a Car

Remember your first time driving? For most Americans, nothing symbolizes freedom more than the open road. But that's changing: for more and more teenagers, freedom doesn't mean a fast car. It means a fast Internet:

If Ferris Bueller had a day off now, would he spend it on Facebook?
Recent research suggests many young Americans prefer to spend their money and time chatting to their friends online, as opposed to the more traditional pastime of cruising around in cars. [...]
But with money tight in many households, and the cost of gas and insurance soaring, some youngsters are having to choose between buying a car and owning the latest smartphone or tablet.
In a survey to be published later this year by Gartner, 46% of 18 to 24-year-olds said they would choose internet access over owning their own car. The figure is 15% among the baby boom generation, the people that grew up in the 1950s and 60s - seen as the golden age of American motoring.

Link

Editorial Comment

Yes, we are back, albeit on a severely limited basis for the moment - we are using the facilities at our local Library to get up with the comments and to post updates until our system is repaired.

Reuters Best Photos of the Year 2011

This photo gallery helps us to sum up some of the important events of 2011 with photographs that made us pay attention. Reuters covered those events and has a gallery of 100 of their best photos for your perusal. Shown is a protester recorded in January in Cairo. Link

Ganvié

Ganvié, in the Republic of Benin, is the largest collection of lake dwellings in Africa. Around 20,000 people call Ganvié's stilt supported dwellings home. The city, in the middle of lake Nokoué is not a recent construct, however.

It is estimated that Ganvié is anything up to five hundred years old. It has been called the Venice of Africa and like the Italian city, its original inhabitants set up home there out of sheer necessity.

That's about right

Ain't it the truth

I feel your pain

The truth be told

Awesome Pictures

Daily Comic Relief

For Northerners Moving South

In the South: If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive pickup truck with a tow chain will be along shortly.  Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.

Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store....do not buy food at this store.

Get used to hearing "You ain't from round here, are ya?"

Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later on how to use it.

Don't be worried at not understanding what people are saying. They can't understand you either. The first Southern statement to creep into a transplanted Northerner's vocabulary is the adjective "big'ol," truck or big'ol" boy. Most Northerners begin their Southern-influenced dialect this way. All of them are in denial about it.

The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper.

Be advised that "He needed killin" is a valid defense here.

If you hear a Southerner exclaim, "Hey, y'all, watch this," you should stay out of the way. These are likely to be the last words he'll ever say.

If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the smallest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It doesn't matter whether you need anything or not. You just have to go there.

Do not be surprised to find that 10-year olds own their own shotguns,  they are proficient marksmen, and their mammas taught them how to aim

In the South, we have found that the best way to grow a lush green lawn is to pour gravel on it and call it a driveway.
AND REMEMBER: If you do settle in the South and bear children, don't  think we will accept them as Southerners. After all, if the cat had kittens  in the oven, we wouldn't call 'em biscuits.

Animal Pictures

Tom the Dancing Bug

Redneckus Americani

You know you're a cop if ...

You have the bladder capacity of five people

You have ever restrained someone and it was not a sexual experience

You believe that 50% of people are a waste of good air

Your idea of a good time is a "man with a gun" call

You conduct a criminal record check on anyone who seems friendly towards you

You believe in the aerial spraying of Prozac and birth control pills

You disbelieve 90% of what you hear and 75% of what you see

You have your weekends off planned for a year

You believe the government should require a permit to reproduce

You refer to your favorite restaurant by the intersection at which it's located

You have ever wanted to hold a seminar entitled: "Suicide...getting it Right the first time.

You ever had to put the phone on hold before you begin laughing uncontrollably

You think caffeine should be available in IV form

You believe anyone who says, "I only had two beers" is going to blow more than a .O8

You find out a lot about paranoia just by following people around

Anyone has ever said to you, "There are people killing other people out there and you are here messing with me."

People flag you down on the street and ask you directions to strange places ... and you know where it's located

You can discuss where you are going to eat with your partner while standing over a dead body

You are the only person introduced at social gatherings by profession. (ISN'T THIS THE TRUTH!)

You walk into places and people think it's high comedy to grab their buddy and shout, "They've come to get you, Bill."

You do not see daylight from November until May

People shout, "I didn't do it!" when you walk into a room and think they're being hugely funny and original

A week's worth of laundry consists of 5 T-shirts, 5 pairs of socks,and 5 pairs of underwear

You've ever referred to Tuesday as "my weekend", or "this is my Friday."

You've ever written off guns and ammunition as a business deduction

You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, "Boy, it sure is quiet tonight."

Discussing dismemberment over a meal seems perfectly normal to you

You find humor in other people's stupidity

You have left more meals on the restaurant table than you've eaten

You feel good when you hear "these handcuffs are too tight."

Editorial Comment

We were just informed today that our technical problems are finally going to be addressed shortly.
The holidays and a mutual friend's wedding have taken all the 'spare' time our tech guru has had away from his paying gig.
But now that the holidays have been over and with the friend married off yesterday, he can now look into sloving the issue.
Well, that is if his wife will let him that is - she has been a royal bitch for a year now about everything and anything when she hasn't been the center of everyone's full and undivided attention (even at the wedding she pitched a fit because her hair wasn't fixed first by the stylist doing the wedding party's hair ... and here I always thought it was the Bride who was center of attention on her wedding day, but apparently not).

So we wait patiently for the good news.
And we what to thank our reader Jimbo for the encouraging comments throughout this time of trials and tribulations with the hardware difficulties.

Editorial Comment

Sorry, for the long delay folks but the technical issues we have been facing are very real (to those that think otherwise) and our IT guys are working on them as they can gratis so we can not complain - it's not everyone that can have free tech work now is it?!
We will be up and running before Spring provided Spring doesn't arrive in February (again to the negative persons out in cyber-space).

Thanks to all the loyal readers who have continued to check in on us ... keep doing so and as soon as possible we will be back with better ideas, content, etc.

Editorial Comment

We're still working on the mainframe and hope to have it up and running shortly. Thank you for you're patience.

Editorial Comment

Well, the crash of the mainframe is still under repair and the updates to Carolina Naturally have been non-existant for nearly a month ... sorry about that.
Having to repair both the mainframe and the backup and recover the data has taken longer than we thought but to the loyal readers who have been checking in do not despair we will be back better than ever.