General Lee and Traveler
Carolina Naturally is read in 192 countries around the world daily.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Today in History
1184
King Magnus of Norway is defeated by his rival, Sverre.
1215 King John signs the Magna Carta.
1381 The English peasant revolt is crushed in London.
1389 Ottoman Turks crush Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo.
1607 Colonists in North America complete James Fort in Jamestown.
1752 Benjamin Franklin and his son test the relationship between electricity and lightning by flying a kite in a thunder storm.
1775 George Washington is named Commander in Chief by Congress.
1779 American General Anthony Wayne captures Stony Point, New York.
1836 Arkansas is admitted into the Union as the 25th state.
1846 Great Britain and the United States agree on a joint occupation of Oregon Territory.
1849 James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States, dies.
1862 General J.E.B. Stuart completes his "ride around McClellan."
1864 The Battle for Petersburg begins.
1866 Prussia attacks Austria.
1877 Henry O. Flipper becomes the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
1898 The U.S. House of representatives approves the annexation of Hawaii.
1916 President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.
1917 Great Britain pledges the release of all Irish captured during the Easter Rebellion of 1916.
1920 Three African Americans are lynched in Duluth, Minnesota, by a white mob of 5,000.
1928 Republicans, convening in Kansas City, name Herbert Hoover their candidate for President.
1932 Gaston Means is sentenced to 15 years for fraud in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping.
1940 The French fortress of Verdun is captured by Germans.
1944 U.S. Marines begin the invasion of Saipan in Pacific.
1947 The All-Indian Congress accepts a British plan for the partition of India.
1958 Greece severs military ties to Turkey because of the Cyprus issue.
1964 The last French troops leave Algeria.
1977 The first general election in Spain since 1936 results in victory for the UCD (Union of Democratic Centre).
1215 King John signs the Magna Carta.
1381 The English peasant revolt is crushed in London.
1389 Ottoman Turks crush Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo.
1607 Colonists in North America complete James Fort in Jamestown.
1752 Benjamin Franklin and his son test the relationship between electricity and lightning by flying a kite in a thunder storm.
1775 George Washington is named Commander in Chief by Congress.
1779 American General Anthony Wayne captures Stony Point, New York.
1836 Arkansas is admitted into the Union as the 25th state.
1846 Great Britain and the United States agree on a joint occupation of Oregon Territory.
1849 James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States, dies.
1862 General J.E.B. Stuart completes his "ride around McClellan."
1864 The Battle for Petersburg begins.
1866 Prussia attacks Austria.
1877 Henry O. Flipper becomes the first African American to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
1898 The U.S. House of representatives approves the annexation of Hawaii.
1916 President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America.
1917 Great Britain pledges the release of all Irish captured during the Easter Rebellion of 1916.
1920 Three African Americans are lynched in Duluth, Minnesota, by a white mob of 5,000.
1928 Republicans, convening in Kansas City, name Herbert Hoover their candidate for President.
1932 Gaston Means is sentenced to 15 years for fraud in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping.
1940 The French fortress of Verdun is captured by Germans.
1944 U.S. Marines begin the invasion of Saipan in Pacific.
1947 The All-Indian Congress accepts a British plan for the partition of India.
1958 Greece severs military ties to Turkey because of the Cyprus issue.
1964 The last French troops leave Algeria.
1977 The first general election in Spain since 1936 results in victory for the UCD (Union of Democratic Centre).
Promising test for spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis
A medical test previously developed to measure a toxin found in
tobacco smokers has been adapted to measure the same toxin in people
suffering from spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, offering a
potential tool [...]
Mexican-American kid sings the national anthem, ticks off racists
11 year old Mexican-American mariachi singer Sebastien De La
Cruz, a San Antonio, Texas native, sang the national anthem during the
NBA finals Tuesday night.And boy were the Twitter racists up in arms.
They include:
So much wrong with this. First off, the kid’s American. Born and
raised in San Antonio. His father was in the US Navy. I think that
qualifies are purty Amurikan.
But let’s pretend for a moment that he were an immigrant. And? We don’t want immigrants embracing American culture? Really? I thought that was one of the concerns some people had about Latino immigration in particular, that perhaps Latino immigrants weren’t learning the language and “becoming American enough.” Well, if that’s the concern, you can’t get more American than singing the freaking Star Spangled Banner at a basketball game. Ironically, Sebastien De La Cruz is doing exactly what these freaks want, embracing his American-ness (which isn’t very difficult because he’s, you know, American).
Sebastien was interviewed by a local San Antonio station and had this to say about the brouhaha:
Sebastien De La Cruz, singing the national anthem at the NBA finals.
“Public Shaming,” a Tumblr page, pulled together a number of the worst examples. They include:
But let’s pretend for a moment that he were an immigrant. And? We don’t want immigrants embracing American culture? Really? I thought that was one of the concerns some people had about Latino immigration in particular, that perhaps Latino immigrants weren’t learning the language and “becoming American enough.” Well, if that’s the concern, you can’t get more American than singing the freaking Star Spangled Banner at a basketball game. Ironically, Sebastien De La Cruz is doing exactly what these freaks want, embracing his American-ness (which isn’t very difficult because he’s, you know, American).
Sebastien was interviewed by a local San Antonio station and had this to say about the brouhaha:
“They don’t know my life,” the young singer told Fox. “My father was actually in the navy for a pretty long time, and I actually salute him today for that. I just wanna thank him and to be able to sing the national anthem. People don’t know, they just assume that I’m just Mexican. But I’m not from Mexico, I’m from San Antonio, born and raised. True San Antonio Spurs fan.”
Did you know ...
About the implications of an older workforce
Just how REM sleep regulates negative emotions
That researchers may have found the wreckage of Amelia Erhart's plane
That a Florida courthouse to see nation's first atheist monument
Hypocritical ... Again
From Daily Kos...
Sure is funny how all this "fiscal responsibility" stuff gets drop-kicked from the top of the Rotunda when the crazy sequester hawks are talking about their own districts:
Tim Huelskamp of Kansas has been one of the most vocal tea-party-backed conservatives in the House, but his calls to shrink the size of government didn't apply when it came to bringing a new Department of Homeland Security lab to his district.
About $404 million for construction of the lab in Manhattan, Kan., was included in the fiscal 2014 Homeland Security bill (HR 2217) that the House passed this week; Huelskamp and other Kansas Republicans fought back attempts to drop the funding from the bill and keep the veterinary research facility at a site on Long Island, N.Y.
The veterinary lab will be a windfall for his district, which is of course why he's demanding it now as he makes a name for himself elsewhere as one of the most stubborn hard-right conservatives out there; even the Paul Ryan budget wasn't cutty-stabby enough for him. Now that we're talking about researching literal pork, though, it isn't pork.
Hard-right fiscal hawk Tim Huelskamp finds some pork he likes
"When I say government spends too much money, I mean in other people's districts."
Sure is funny how all this "fiscal responsibility" stuff gets drop-kicked from the top of the Rotunda when the crazy sequester hawks are talking about their own districts:
Tim Huelskamp of Kansas has been one of the most vocal tea-party-backed conservatives in the House, but his calls to shrink the size of government didn't apply when it came to bringing a new Department of Homeland Security lab to his district.
About $404 million for construction of the lab in Manhattan, Kan., was included in the fiscal 2014 Homeland Security bill (HR 2217) that the House passed this week; Huelskamp and other Kansas Republicans fought back attempts to drop the funding from the bill and keep the veterinary research facility at a site on Long Island, N.Y.
The veterinary lab will be a windfall for his district, which is of course why he's demanding it now as he makes a name for himself elsewhere as one of the most stubborn hard-right conservatives out there; even the Paul Ryan budget wasn't cutty-stabby enough for him. Now that we're talking about researching literal pork, though, it isn't pork.
The wingnuts Get Desperate With Claim That Obamacare Will Result In Fewer Doctors
Who
can forget the great (descriptor used with healthy dose of irony)
health care reform debate of summer 2009? In a historic low point for
American discourse, crazed tea party crackpots and others situated on
the extreme right side of the political spectrum attempted to derail the
eventual passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
(PPACA) by any means they deemed necessary. These efforts included the
sensational and oft-repeated claim that group of government drones would
render service decisions that could theoretically result in the
arbitrary deaths of American citizens. It is still hard to recall the
death panel “conversation” without overt queasiness.Having failed to gain traction for the propaganda outside the usual circle of tinfoil hat wearing paranoids, the right then sought to take the wind out of the act’s sails by senselessly voting for its repeal in the House no less than 37 times. These “symbolic” gestures have been an epic waste of taxpayer resources even as issues related to consistently high unemployment, infrastructure dissolution and climate change languish.
Then the repugican cabal apparatus tried a new tactic, espousing the dire warning that Obamacare would bring the country to financial ruin, ruin I say! The folks who spread this disingenuous swill would have loved us to forget that Wall Street already tied its hand at that last decade. But instead of repugican howls for accountability at the time, we received cynical claims that further deregulation was the solution. That’s just what an alcoholic needs: increased access to spirits.
And then, oops! As Obamacare began to become the law of the land, we experienced a marked slowdown in health care costs. In even worse news for right wing agenda, the reversal may be permanent if the economy continues to grow. Better get back to that middle class job killing stat! I am certain repugican cabal opposition to raising the Federal minimum wage is just a coincidence.
Having dispatched the more obvious objections to Obamacare with amazing speed in this era of legislative inertia, the right is launching a new scare tactic. Designed to divert attention away from the fact that health care reform is already working to relieve budgetary strain while increasing access to health insurance for Americans previously locked out, the wingnut media apparatus would now have us believe that a doctor shortage is the next danger.
The Wall St. Cheat Sheet ran an article this week with a rhetorical question for a headline: Does Obamacare Mean Fewer Doctors and Less Accessible Healthcare? Note to wingnut pundits: the inclusion of a question mark at the end of a provocative headline is a dead giveaway that what we are about to read is not solid analysis, but rather a rudimentary attempt to plant an idea. This is NOT journalism.
But I digress. Among the more flimsy evidence writer Meghan Foley offers is data from a “Physicians Foundation survey of 13,000 doctors [which] discovered that 60 percent of respondents would retire today if they could, an increase from 45 percent who gave the same answer before the legislation was passed.”
Here’s an idea. Perhaps those doctors who wish they could retire are among the throngs of Baby Boomers who, having lost savings, pensions, jobs and homes in the housing bubble burst and financial crash of 2008, can no longer afford to do so. How in the world is this survey direct evidence of Obamacare creating a doctor shortage? To suggest that other factors may be at play could be the understatement of my professional writing career.
I give the right’s media arm credit for Playskool Weeble-like resiliency, but the arguments and objections against implementing reform are becoming more pathetically desperate. If the repugican cabal and its voices are the “true patriots” they often claim to be, how about getting behind a law that was passed democratically and which is already demonstrating significant benefits with regard to the finances and security of the nation and its denizens. Give it up already.
Millionaire repugican Congressmen Are Trying to Cut $20 Billion In Food Stamps For the Poor
Twenty six House Democrats are trying feed themselves on $31.50 for an entire week. Most of them realized very quickly that $1.50 per meal doesn’t go very far.
Rep. Hank Johnson (r-GA) appeared on MSNBC’s Politics Nation to discuss his experience so far.
Video:
Rep. Johnson explained how little $31.50 actually bought. He detailed his diet for the week. Johnson said that he would only be eating two meals a day. His meat for the day will be bacon. He got lucky, and found a buy one get one free sale. He also will subsist on oatmeal, Ramen noodles, hot dogs, waffles, syrup, bananas, and he “splurged” on some tea.
Rep. Johnson said that repugicans would never pass these cuts if they had to live on $31.50 a week, but, “The problem is that we have so many millionaires on the other side of the aisle that they will never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from, or trying to stretch dollars so that they can eat for the period of time that they have the finances to pay for.”
According to the Fiscal Times, congressional repugicans are arguing that the food stamp program is corrupt, “But many congressional repugicans and wingnut groups believe that food stamp spending is out of control and ripe with corruption – and that it needs to be reined in to reduce the deficit. These critics say a once relatively modest social safety net has grown into a costly grab bag for down-on-their-luck middle-class Americans, college students looking for free pizza and junk food and countless others who game the system.”
This isn’t even close to the truth.
Look at who is really on food stamps:
When repugicans want to talk about social safety net programs they always fall back on some version of Ronald Reagan’s rich, black, Chicago welfare queen, but the truth is white people are the largest racial group of food stamp recipients.
The repugicans like Cantor and Ryan claim to be opposed to these programs because they create a “culture of dependency,” but what they don’t tell you is that they support a different culture of dependency. The difference is that repugicans want the poor to be dependent on Wal-Mart for a job. They want to make sure that there is no safety net for anyone, so that the non-rich are serfs and servants who serve at the whim of the wealthy and corporations. The repugicans aren’t opposed to dependency. Their problem is that programs like unemployment insurance and SNAP offer people help, so that they aren’t working for pennies a day while hoping a billionaire is generous and pays them enough to feed themselves.
There is a war on the poor happening right now, and the bad news is that the poor are losing.
It's Grillin' Season
And Here's 7 Old Wives' Tales About Cooking Steak That Need To Go Away
Grocers allege potato group pumped up spud prices
Kansas-based Associated Wholesale Grocers' lawsuit against United Potato Growers of America and two dozen other defendants was shifted this week to U.S. District Court in Idaho, America's top potato-producing state at 30 percent of the nation's supply.
The grocery group, a cooperative which supplies more than 2,000 stores including IGA, Thriftway and Price Chopper in 24 states, contends that the potato growers banded together in 2004 to illegally inflate prices in a scheme akin to the petroleum-producing OPEC cartel, reducing planting acreages and destroying potatoes, all to restrict what was available for sale.
"UPGA utilized predatory conduct and coercive conduct in ensuring compliance with the price-fixing scheme," according to the lawsuit, which charges tactics including use of "satellite imagery, fly-overs, GPS systems, and other methods to enforce its agreement to reduce potato supply."
The grocers are asking for triple damages, likely in the millions, and are focusing on growers of fresh potato varieties found in big bags in supermarket produce aisles, as well as potatoes that are processed into golden fries, tater-tots and other products and sold in freezer sections of the group's stores.
United Potato Growers of America has organized growers in 15 states —it has members in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin, representing three-quarters of the nation's fresh potato production.
Dell Raybould, an owner of Raybould Farms and a Republican state representative, is a member of the co-op and has also been named in the lawsuit. He insisted on Thursday that those who set up the group in 2004 followed federal anti-trust laws.
Raybould, who grows Russet Burbanks and Norkotah Russets on 850 acres near Rexburg in Idaho's far east, paints a bleak picture of spud farming prior to 2004: A haphazard industry where farmers inevitably grew too many tubers, pushing prices into the cellar.
"I can remember when people hauled their potatoes out in the field with the manure spreader, dumped them and plowed them under," said Raybould, who has been growing potatoes since 1953. "They did try to level out production, so we didn't have the boom and bust thing all the time. And when they did the co-op, they went about this the right way. They got the best co-op attorney in the nation, and they did it right."
United Potato Growers of America's Salt Lake City-based attorney, Randon Wilson, contends that his group is shielded by the Capper-Volstead Act, the 1922 federal law that under some circumstances exempts agricultural cooperatives from antitrust regulations.
"Right from the beginning, we did everything right, to qualify for Capper-Volstead," Wilson said. "We know what you have to do to qualify for that limited exemption and we followed all those rules."
However, Associated Wholesale Grocers says the growers illegally sought to boost costs of America's most-popular vegetable.
At secret meetings in Idaho Falls, according to the complaint, big Idaho potato growers like Albert Wada and members of the Raybould family, as well as North Dakota ag-multimillionaire Ronald Offutt, worked with Wilson to hatch a far-reaching price-fixing scheme, creating a powerful agricultural juggernaut capable of squeezing customers like grocery stores.
"None of the defendants... is entitled to the limited protections found in the Capper-Volstead Act for their efforts to restrict potato supply and fix prices," wrote Patrick J. Stueve, the grocer's lawyer in Kansas City. "
Stueve didn't return phone calls, but his basic contention — that Capper-Volstead is being abused to illegally inflate potato prices — has emerged in numerous, commodity-related lawsuits in the last decade, said Peter Carstensen, a University of Wisconsin Law School professor in Madison who focuses on antitrust cases.
"It's because there's an increasing perception that Capper-Volstead is being abused," he said.
For instance, a similar lawsuit filed in 2010 targeting potato growers is now advancing through federal court in Idaho, a case that may eventually be combined with this one.
Meanwhile, other groups including the U.S. Department of Justice have lodged antitrust complaints against mushroom growers, dairy farmers, egg producers and cranberries. Carstensen said a common gulf separates rival protagonists.
Large agricultural producers argue they're using the power of the cooperative to create a more efficient market, he said, while "the other side is saying 'No'... what you're doing is outside the scope of authorized conduct."
Federal prosecutors aren't involved in this latest litigation, but the DOJ has pushed recently to re-examine how large, modern agricultural cooperatives are using the Capper-Volstead Act, including holding workshops with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to scrutinize competition in the farming business.
How refusing a $0.50 parking validation cost a bank a $1M depositor
In 1989, a bank-teller at the Old National Bank in Spokane, WA refused
to validate the $0.50 parking stub of a shabbily dressed man who'd come
in to cash a check. That shabbily dressed man was John Barrier, a
30-year customer of the bank with more than $1 million on deposit; which
he promptly withdrew and took to Seafirst Bank, down the street.
Real Job Opening: Court Jester
Can you play the fool and entertain royalty? A hotel in Vienna may have a job for you:
It's no joke. An Austrian hotel is advertising for a modern-day court fool, who is communicative, extroverted, musical, creative and imaginative.
Applicants are asked to bring — and play — their musical instrument during the job interview. Also welcome: creative costumes. The successful candidate will earn 1,400 euros — around $1,900 — a month.
Hotel director Melanie Franke says those interested should not think they're on a fool's errand in applying. She says the idea is to treat guests like royalty, noting that "jesters were a luxury that royal families indulged themselves in."
THE NAVY WILL NO LONGER COMMUNICATE IN ALL CAPS
THE TRADITION OF USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IS A LEGACY OF TELETYPE MACHINES OF 1850S THAT LACK LOWERCASE LETTERS. OFFICIAL NAVY COMMUNICATIONS AND ORDERS HAVE BEEN TYPED OUT IN ALL-CAPS SINCE THE 19TH CENTURY, BUT YOUNGER SAILORS SEE IT AS RUDE.
“WHILE THIS DECISION WAS MADE TO SAVE MONEY AND GAIN EFFICIENCIES, IF AN ANCILLARY BENEFIT IS THAT SAILORS READING MESSAGE TRAFFIC NO LONGER FEEL THEY’RE BEING SCREAMED AT…THAT’S A GOOD THING TOO,” SAID A NAVY OFFICIAL.
IRONICALLY, THE ORDER WAS - YOU GUESSED IT - WRITTEN OUT IN ALL CAPS.
Accused bank robber wants NSA phone records for his defense
Defense lawyers for Terrance Brown, a south Florida man facing bank
robbery charges, have asked for NSA mobile phone surveillance records to
be supplied in order to support his claim that he was not in the
vicinity of the bank at the time it was robbed. He's referring to the leaked court order
revealing that the NSA requires American phone companies to turn over
the complete records of all their calls, including the location data
about the callers.
The prosecution had told defense attorneys that they were unable to obtain Brown's cellphone records from the period before September 2010 because his carrier, MetroPCS, had not held on to them.
Not so fast, Brown's attorney Marshall Dore Louis argued in court documents filed in Fort Lauderdale days after the National Security Agency surveillance program was revealed last week...
...Louis argued in court Wednesday that the government should be forced to turn over phone location records for two cellphones Brown may have used because it could prove he was not present for one of the attempted bank robberies, on July 26 on Federal Highway in Lighthouse Point.
"The president of the United States has recognized this program has been ongoing since 2006 … to gather the phone numbers [and related information] of everybody including my client in 2010," Louis said.
Police officer's flatulence led to discovery of cannabis factory
Officers from Leicestershire Police burglary team were waiting on a
suspect to arrest; three members of the team were in one car at the end
of a street, two in the front and one in the back.
The officer in the back enjoyed a high protein diet, and suffering with flatulence. The officers in the front seats of the car were forced to wind down the windows.
On doing so the officers smelled what they thought was cannabis. They asked their colleague in the back what he had been eating, and after fits of giggles and denials, they realized that the cannabis smell was in the air in the street outside.
All three officers’ suspicions were now raised, and they left the car to get some fresh air and find the cause of the cannabis smell. 200 meters further along the road the officers, following their noses, found a cannabis factory with a crop worth £12,000. Seven people were arrested, leading to a further seizure from another house nearby.
The officer in the back enjoyed a high protein diet, and suffering with flatulence. The officers in the front seats of the car were forced to wind down the windows.
On doing so the officers smelled what they thought was cannabis. They asked their colleague in the back what he had been eating, and after fits of giggles and denials, they realized that the cannabis smell was in the air in the street outside.
All three officers’ suspicions were now raised, and they left the car to get some fresh air and find the cause of the cannabis smell. 200 meters further along the road the officers, following their noses, found a cannabis factory with a crop worth £12,000. Seven people were arrested, leading to a further seizure from another house nearby.
Saudi Arabian activists search for people behind duct taping child to wall
Saudi Arabian activists have expressed disdain over a picture that shows a young child
plastered against a wall with duct tape while an adult man sleeps on a couch
underneath him “smiling.”
Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission has urged citizens to cooperate with their search for the those behind the incident. The commission said the perpetrators should be punished for violating the child’s human rights.
Maatouq Al-Sharif, member of the commission, said: “what happened to the child is violation of his right, and this is a criminal offence.” Sharif said people need to be “deterred” so scenarios like this won’t be repeated again. “Such behaviour has an impact on the child’s personality. This also promotes the culture of violence against children.”
While the child in the picture appeared to be happy, Sharif said, “the child has no power to defend himself, and there is a penalty for such acts even if it isn’t known to Saudis that such deeds are punishable. Parents do not own their children. Children have human rights, ” he said as he stated that Saudi Arabia signed a treaty to protect the rights of children.
Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission has urged citizens to cooperate with their search for the those behind the incident. The commission said the perpetrators should be punished for violating the child’s human rights.
Maatouq Al-Sharif, member of the commission, said: “what happened to the child is violation of his right, and this is a criminal offence.” Sharif said people need to be “deterred” so scenarios like this won’t be repeated again. “Such behaviour has an impact on the child’s personality. This also promotes the culture of violence against children.”
While the child in the picture appeared to be happy, Sharif said, “the child has no power to defend himself, and there is a penalty for such acts even if it isn’t known to Saudis that such deeds are punishable. Parents do not own their children. Children have human rights, ” he said as he stated that Saudi Arabia signed a treaty to protect the rights of children.
Chinese man arrested for making rubber alien
As proof of extraterrestrial life, one Chinese man's crudely built
rubber
alien, stashed in a chest freezer in his garage, was rather
unconvincing. Shortly after he proudly posted photographs of his alien
on the internet, the farmer, named only as Mr Li, was arrested by the
police for five days for "fabrications" that "disturbed the
public order".
Mr Li was forced to admit that he had indeed sought to use his model, held together with chicken wire and glue, to mislead his fellow Chinese about the existence of celestial creatures. Initially, Mr Li had posted his close encounter on a Chinese website, together with a shaggy dog story about how he had captured the alien while setting traps for rabbits.
"I was setting an electric trap for rabbits by the Yellow river when I saw a bright light," he said. "Above my bike, a UFO was floating. One by one, five aliens came down, but one of them stumbled into one of my rabbit traps and was electrocuted. The others went back into their ship and flew away."
However after his post went viral, the Chinese authorities moved quickly to limit the effect it might have on the extremely gullible. Not only was Mr Li's initial post deleted, but the police soon arrived to arrest him. "After the police interrogated me, I confessed I was a fan of UFOs and the alien was a fake. I just wanted other people to believe that aliens existed," he said.
Mr Li was forced to admit that he had indeed sought to use his model, held together with chicken wire and glue, to mislead his fellow Chinese about the existence of celestial creatures. Initially, Mr Li had posted his close encounter on a Chinese website, together with a shaggy dog story about how he had captured the alien while setting traps for rabbits.
"I was setting an electric trap for rabbits by the Yellow river when I saw a bright light," he said. "Above my bike, a UFO was floating. One by one, five aliens came down, but one of them stumbled into one of my rabbit traps and was electrocuted. The others went back into their ship and flew away."
However after his post went viral, the Chinese authorities moved quickly to limit the effect it might have on the extremely gullible. Not only was Mr Li's initial post deleted, but the police soon arrived to arrest him. "After the police interrogated me, I confessed I was a fan of UFOs and the alien was a fake. I just wanted other people to believe that aliens existed," he said.
One-Armed Woman Wins Miss Iowa Competition
23-year old Nicole Kelly is the new Miss Iowa. She was born without a left forearm, but she's never let it get in the way of her ambitions. She writes:
I was born without my left forearm. (Although, when people ask me what happened to my arm, I like to ask, "Well, what do you think happened?" My favorite explanation to date has been that it was bitten off by a shark…a perfect explanation for someone from Iowa.) As I grew older, I learned to offset the initial stares I received from people with an outgoing personality that would not give in to "No." This meant that I tried everything! From baseball, to dance to diving, there was nothing I would not try. I found my passion within a world where I was giving people permission to stare…the stage.
Flying bicycle makes successful test flight
Dodging buses and cars in the morning rush hour could be a thing of the
past for the hard-done-by cyclist thanks to a new invention by a group
of bicycle boffins.
Three companies in the Czech Republic have teamed up to make a prototype of an electric bicycle that is capable of flying. The machine is controlled remotely while in development but its designers hope to have it capable of carrying people soon.
They also hope battery technology will advance enough to improve the five-minute flights it is capable of performing and make the invention marketable.
Looking like a heavy mountain bike, it has two propellers in the front, other two in the back and one on each side. Its six engines are powered by batteries. "Because the capacity of batteries doubles about every 10 years, we can expect that in the future the capacity would be enough for the bike to used for sports, tourism or similar things," said Milan Duchek, the technical director of Duratec Bicycles.
Three companies in the Czech Republic have teamed up to make a prototype of an electric bicycle that is capable of flying. The machine is controlled remotely while in development but its designers hope to have it capable of carrying people soon.
They also hope battery technology will advance enough to improve the five-minute flights it is capable of performing and make the invention marketable.
Looking like a heavy mountain bike, it has two propellers in the front, other two in the back and one on each side. Its six engines are powered by batteries. "Because the capacity of batteries doubles about every 10 years, we can expect that in the future the capacity would be enough for the bike to used for sports, tourism or similar things," said Milan Duchek, the technical director of Duratec Bicycles.
How Your Brain Completes Shapes
Are Beer Bellies A Myth?
The myth might result from the notion that beer drinkers take in more calories. A bottle of beer is typically 12 ounces while a glass of wine is typically 5 ounces.
Beautiful, Strange And Rare Cloud Formations
Earth News
One of the biggest rare-earth gambles is at Alaska's Bokan
Mountain. Once mined for uranium, the granite peak on Prince of Wales
Island contains rich veins of the harder-to-find heavy rare-earth
elements.
Marine biologists discovered that microbes are living 521
feet (129 meters) beneath the seafloor off the coast of Peru.
Astronomical News
Even by celestial standards, the span between a newly found
suspected baby planet and its host star is astronomical.
Exomoons may be a good place to find extraterrestrial life.
While we haven't found any yet, we know exactly what we're looking for.
The central region of the Andromeda galaxy is chock-full of
black holes, according to extensive observations with NASA's Chandra
X-ray Observatory.
Sledding slabs of dry ice, not seeping water, may be the cause of some very peculiar seasonal features on Mars.
The Secrets of 'Deep-Diving' Mammals
Deep-diving mammals' secret revealed
Study solves the mystery of one of the most extreme
adaptations in the animal kingdom: how marine mammals store enough
oxygen to hold their breath for up to an hour.
Guide dog in training hailed a hero after alerting handlers to out of control car on sidewalk
Guide dogs are often called life changers by the visually impaired, but
there is one Guide Dog for the Blind that is being called a life saver
after he alerted his handlers of a potentially disastrous situation this
week in San Rafael, California. A yellow Labrador named O'Neil was the
first to notice a car driving backwards down a sidewalk on Monday
morning.
His turn alerted trainers Todd Jurek and Danielle Alvarado of the danger and they quickly ran around the corner and were narrowly missed by the careering car. Guide Dogs said Jurek and Alvarado were assessing O'Neil to see if he was ready to be assigned to a blind person. "So I think O’Neil heard the wheels come upon the kerb, so he heard that before I did,” Jurek said.
Surveillance video captured the near miss. It shows the three walking down Fourth Street when the dog looks back first to see the car. That turn alerted the group who quickly ran around the corner. They just made it safety ahead of the out of control car. The driver continued across the street and crashed into a storefront. Luckily no one was hurt. Police said the driver was a 93-year-old woman who appears to have had a major parking mishap.
"Her driving abilities are in question, so more than likely we'll be asking that she be re-examined by the department of motor vehicles," said San Rafael Police spokeswoman Margot Rohrbacher. "It really was a miracle that nobody was injured." No doubt Jurek's quick action saved potential injuries or even death, but he credited O'Neill as well. "He kind of turned around and was in this mode of 'We got to do something!'" said Jurek. "He was going to do something, but then I interacted." Jurek said O'Neill passed his field training test with flying colors and will likely be graduating in two or three weeks before being matched with a blind client.
His turn alerted trainers Todd Jurek and Danielle Alvarado of the danger and they quickly ran around the corner and were narrowly missed by the careering car. Guide Dogs said Jurek and Alvarado were assessing O'Neil to see if he was ready to be assigned to a blind person. "So I think O’Neil heard the wheels come upon the kerb, so he heard that before I did,” Jurek said.
Surveillance video captured the near miss. It shows the three walking down Fourth Street when the dog looks back first to see the car. That turn alerted the group who quickly ran around the corner. They just made it safety ahead of the out of control car. The driver continued across the street and crashed into a storefront. Luckily no one was hurt. Police said the driver was a 93-year-old woman who appears to have had a major parking mishap.
"Her driving abilities are in question, so more than likely we'll be asking that she be re-examined by the department of motor vehicles," said San Rafael Police spokeswoman Margot Rohrbacher. "It really was a miracle that nobody was injured." No doubt Jurek's quick action saved potential injuries or even death, but he credited O'Neill as well. "He kind of turned around and was in this mode of 'We got to do something!'" said Jurek. "He was going to do something, but then I interacted." Jurek said O'Neill passed his field training test with flying colors and will likely be graduating in two or three weeks before being matched with a blind client.
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