Welcome to ...

The place where the world comes together in honesty and mirth.
Windmills Tilted, Scared Cows Butchered, Lies Skewered on the Lance of Reality ... or something to that effect.


Friday, February 20, 2009

Science News

New Butterfly Discovered with Mustache Disguise

From LiveScience:

A mustache on a butterfly has tipped off curators at the Natural History Museum in London that a specimen in their collection for 90 years actually belongs to a new species.

A curator found the disguised insect, initially collected from the dry Magdalena valleys of Colombia, among the 3 million butterfly specimens at the museum where it had lain undiscovered.

Blanca Huertas compared the mustachioed specimen with a recently found wild specimen, allowing her to identify the older specimen as Splendeuptychia ackeryi, or Magdalena valley ringlet, whose distinguishing feature is unusually hairy mouthparts. (The name ackeryi is dedicated to Phil Ackery, the former collection manager of the butterfly collections at the museum.)

"We have almost 9 million butterflies and moths in our collections, a comprehensive example of the Earth's diversity," Huertas said. "But there are many new species still waiting to be discovered, both in museum collections and in the field."

Huertas discovered the new species in the wild when she travelled, with two colleagues, on an expedition to a remote mountain in Colombia in 2005. The entomologists did not realize, however, that the butterfly they had seen in Colombia had not been named and described until they returned to the England and studied the specimens in the Museum's collections, dating from 1920.

Butterflies are a diverse group of insects with almost 20,000 known species, 40 percent of which are in South America, Huertas said.

The description of the new butterfly is published in the latest issue of the journal Zootaxa. The expedition to Colombia was supported by the BP Conservation Programme, BirdLife International, Conservation International, Flora & Fauna International, Wildlife Conservation Society, Rio Tinto plc, Duke of Edinburgh, the Royal Geographical Society, Fundación ProAves and many other Colombian institutions.

Nowhere Man


The Beatles

(In what is most probably the most scathing commentary on we humankind ever recorded ... and you thought it was just a cute little children's ditty. Listen to the words carefully)

Judge overturns 2006 video poker ban

This week, a state judge overturned the 2006 ruling that banned video poker machines from North Carolina. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by the New VEMCO Music Company in Fayetteville.

The company was previously a vendor of video poker machines. Owners were not available for comment but Lonnie Player, their attorney, said the suit was about equal treatment.

"This lawsuit simply asked the court to construe state law which we think is clear that there is no carve-out necessarily for one specific group versus the others," he said.

That specific group Player mentioned is the Cherokee Indians. The 2006 ruling prohibited establishments from having video poker machines, but made an exception for casinos operated by the Cherokee Indian Tribe.

"And under state and federal law, that cannot happen," Player said.

Judge Manning agreed, but also issued a stay of the order to give the state time to file an appeal.

Eddie Caldwell, Jr. of the North Carolina Sheriff's Association said law enforcement fears the ruling could bring back a host of problems they said the machines once caused.

“Sheriffs across the state have numerous examples of situations where citizens had called them where their spouse had lost all their paycheck at a video poker machine,” he said. “They didn't have money to buy groceries, to buy milk for their children."

Player said the lawsuit was not designed to take gaming rights away from the Cherokees, but to make it legal to have legitimate gaming in all of North Carolina.

He said it's possible that gaming could return to the state within a year if Manning's ruling stands.

Romanian premier living in rented apartment

Romania's prime minister is living in a rented apartment two months after starting work because the state can't find permanent housing for him.

Romania has no official residence for the prime minister or president. And the government says former public officials aren't moving out of the few high-quality state-owned homes and apartments in downtown Bucharest, the capital. They are required to leave two months after their terms end.

State Secretary Daniela Andreescu said Friday that she hopes to avoid taking legal action to remove a former dignitary from the state-owned home where Premier Emil Boc wants to live. She did not identify the official.

Meanwhile Boc, a former mayor in Transylvania, is living in a rented apartment not far from the government offices.

When I'm Sixty-four


The Beatles

Man renovating old house finds hidden room

An Indiana man who's renovating a 120-year-old house has discovered a hidden room in its basement - a find he said shows that some old buildings definitely hold secrets.

A friend of Carl Thoms was working recently on plumbing in the 1890 home's basement when he noticed that he could see around those pipes into a hidden room covered in tiles.

He also spotted a staircase - a discovery that led Thoms to a bedroom off of the home's kitchen, where he pried up some floorboards and accessed those stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, Thoms found himself in a walled-off 10-foot-square room covered in tiles that at first made him think the room might have once been a tiled sauna.

But he also wonders whether it might have been a bootlegging room during Prohibition - or any number of possibilities.

"You never know what it could have been," Thoms said. "It's really cool to find something like that."

He said the room appears to have been intentionally walled off from the rest of the basement but that it's difficult to date the blocks used to wall it up because they appear old. The stairs may have once been accessed through the bedroom via a trap door that no longer exists.

Thoms began renovating the 886-square-foot house near the city's downtown for him, his wife and their four children after buying it in 2007.

The 32-year-old said he plans to do some library research his old home's history.

Even More Critter News

Two catch rare white sturgeon on the same day

Two lucky spearers have defied the odds and caught rare white sturgeon on the same day. Department of Natural Resources biologist Ron Bruch said about one in 10,000 lake sturgeon are white and until Tuesday none had been caught in more than 10 years.

Bruch said he can't recall two being harvested on the same day before. Only 13 percent of spearers catch any sturgeon at all.

Tuesday's catches came on Lake Winnebago's eastern shore.

Joseph Gerbyshak, 24, caught one white sturgeon, and 54-year-old Sue Muetzelburg of Fond du Lac nabbed the other.

Muetzelburg said her first thought was that the pale fish was sick. She plans to mount the head and fillet and smoke the rest.

More Critter News

Mice overrun courthouse, fall from ceiling

There are so many mice in one Florida county courthouse that they've been seen falling from ceiling tiles. One judge at the Palm Beach County Courthouse calls it an infestation. Some staffers say they check their handbags for stowaways before leaving the building each day.

Court employees and lawyers say the rodents scuttle down corridors, munch legal papers and scratch behind the walls. Last week, one mouse ran around a courtroom floor for an hour during a burglary trial.

The courthouse facilities manager says he's put out a few dozen traps to capture the rodents. He says he's not sure there has been an uptick in mice lately but says they're getting more press than they deserve.

Critter News

Skunk stink shutters library for 2nd week

Bookworms are always welcome at a central Pennsylvania library, but a different kind of critter has kept patrons away from the building for more than a week.

The Allensville branch of the Mifflin County library has been closed since February 10th because of the putrid smell from a skunk that may still be prowling among the stacks.

Library employees can't find the skunk or get rid of the odor. Menno Township has enlisted a professional trapper to find it.

Supervisor Harold Johnson Jr. doubts the skunk is in the building. Johnson believes it was outside near a ventilation unit, which would explain why the smell is evident both inside and outside the library.

Woman tries to pay old fine, but gets arrested

A mother of three was arrested when she tried to pay a 13-year-old fine for a youthful misstep.

Christina Dugan Lloyd was sorting old papers when she found a $2,000 citation from 1996 she said she forgot about. The offense: speeding through Utah with an expired driver's license and possession of a controlled substance.

Now 38, married and with three kids, Lloyd called the sheriff in Utah on Monday to pay the fine. She was told someone would have to call her back.

The Providence Journal reported that instead, Narragansett police came to her house and arrested her. She was booked, held overnight and released the next day after paying the fine by credit card.

Lloyd said not paying the fine earlier was "so stupid" and that police and court personnel were nice.

There She Goes


The LA's
(the original later copied by the better known band Sixpence None the Richer)

Inmate sues over satanism interference

A 35-year-old man imprisoned for drug possession in Montana has filed a $10 million federal lawsuit against Yellowstone County, alleging jailers interfered with his satanic religious practices while he was in jail.

The lawsuit filed by Jason P. Indreland claims county jail staff took from him a religious medallion, denied him access to a "Satanic Bible or Book of Satanic Rituals" and ridiculed and punished him for his religious beliefs.

The suit alleges that Yellowstone County jail staff placed "Christian themed greeting cards under (his) cell door," that said "Jesus was ready to save and accept him."

Indreland is serving a three-year sentence at the Montana State Prison for felony drug possession. He was convicted after police found him with 15 grams of methamphetamine in March 2007.

Man sunk by gun in bag of coins

You know this story is from Arkansas, right ...

If only he had remembered to take the pistol out of a sack of nickels he brought to a bank, he may have remained free and not become a suspect in a recent burglary. An 18-year-old man entered the BancorpSouth branch Wednesday to change $88 worth of nickels to paper money, Camden police said. After spotting the gun, the teller told a supervisor, who called police.

After police questioned him, they had cause to obtain a search warrant for his home, where they found $16,000 worth of allegedly stolen property, including eight firearms. Camden police Capt. Scott Rosson said many of the nickels were from a stolen coin collection.

The Ouachita County Jail said Friday that the man was charged with resisting arrest and possession of a firearm. Police were investigating the burglary aspect of the case. The jail didn't have information on his bond.

Rosson said the man had no intention of robbing the bank. The .44-caliber handgun was not loaded but ammunition for the gun was also in the bag. Police said the man planned to sell the gun at a pawn shop.

When is a free credit report not a free credit report?

I wrote an article for PC.com on my idiotic blunder of signing up with freecreditreport.com. In short, don't go there. If you want a truly free credit report use annualcreditreport.com, not freecreditreport.com.
I clicked on the large bright orange button that said "Get your Free Credit Report & Score!" and was presented with a form. I filled it out. I hesitated for a second when the site asked for my credit card number, which it stated was "required to establish your account," but the site assured me that my "credit card will not be charged during the free trial period." Having done this before (or so I thought), I went ahead and entered the information. A shopping cart receipt indicated that the total was $0.00.

I got my credit report, looked it over, and forgot about it. A week later I was looking at my checking account register online and I noticed a $14.95 charge from a company called CIC*Triple Advantage. I didn't recall buying anything from a company with that name, so I entered "CIC*Triple Advantage" into Google. The search results made my eyes bug out of my head. This was the name of the billing entity for freecreditreport.com. The thousands of search results were full of words like "deceptive practices," "scam," "ripoff," "unauthorized billing!" and "beware!" In fact, all the top results were either from people complaining that they'd been conned into signing up for a $14.95 monthly credit monitoring service without their permission, or they were about how to cancel the service.

Union des Banques Suisses

The Swiss bank Union des Banques Suisses (UBS) says it will pay the US $780-million and tell American authorities the names of a few people who have those famous secret Swiss "numbered" bank accounts to evade American taxes.
And the US has responded by suing for the information about some 52,000 more account-holders. IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman says that the lawsuit "sends a strong signal to taxpayers hiding their money offshore."

More at Reuters.

Health News

About time don't you think

In a break with the shrub and the cabal, the Obama administration will now officially oppose discrimination against women.

More at ThinkProgess.

Liars and Fools

Today's Liars and Fools are:

Washington Post runs George Will's newest column without issuing a correction for his last one
Did we expect them to?

Mal-kin poses for photo with Swastika Guy
Nazis flocking!

National Review has eighteen words to say about New York Post's Obama/monkey cartoon
Surprised they used that many!

Handjob distorts and falsifies Border Agent case to suit his agenda
Again, did we expect anything different?

Politico's mission statement: serve as "key outlet" for DC spinners
Too, bad they're 'key-less'.

Faux News goes into all "socialist" mode as Obama signs stimulus bill
As if, this is news?!

Disney's Savage says "There's only ... one thing left for a woman after her prime of sexual excess and that's radical left-wing politics"
Clueless as ever ...

CNN's Dobbs lies about Employee Free Choice Act
And this is new to anybody, how?

Faux News special pushes numerous myths and falsehoods about Obama and the economic recovery bill
'Staying the course,' I see. The wrong one, but staying it anyway.

Handjob runs ads for fraudster fugitive's company
Status Quo continues.

Washington Times and CNN advance 61-detainee falsehood
Everyone else in the world knows this is a joke.

CBS falsely portrays Stanford swindle as Democratic scandal
FYI - Standford is a repugican.

Faux's Brick lies and claims average UAW worker makes $154 per hour
In who's dreams!

repugicans take credit for the stimulus plan after voting against it
Typical, just typical

Faux Business Network infested by false tale of stimulus bill's salt marsh mouse
Fairy tales and fantasy are all they know.

A Hard Day's Warners


The Animaniacs

Items in the News

From the Associated Press news wire:

General Motors corp.'s Swedish-based subsidiary Saab went into bankruptcy protection today so the unit can be spun off or sold by its struggling u.s. parent, officials said.
The move comes after Sweden turned down GM's request for government help for Saab.
More here

General Motors wants another $30-billion from the federal government, and in return GM promises to cut 47,000 jobs. Yes, it's a lose-lose situation, but GM is too big to fail -- everyone says it because it's true -- and $30-billion is petty cash compared to what the government has given to the criminal entities on Wall Street.
More here

The high-finance industry has sold and re-sold mortgagees at such a fast and furious rate, simply asking to see your mortgage can significantly slow or even halt foreclosure.
More here

The Dollhouse Exists Right Now

Five Brain-Manipulating Technologies That Prove The Dollhouse Exists Right Now

brain manipulation

1. We can erase people’s memories.
2. We can regulate people’s moods with microchips.
3. We can use brain implants to steer animals left and right.
4. Infrared brain scans can predict what people want.
5. Human-computer interfaces link human brains directly to computers.

Full Story

Irish cops finally "catch" Prawo Jazdy

Cops in Ireland have finally solved the mystery of "the worst driver in Ireland," a man called Prawo Jadzy who had rackedup many infractions but had never been brought to justice because he'd given a string of fake addresses:
"Prawo Jazdy is actually the Polish for driving licence and not the first and surname on the licence," read a letter from June 2007 from an officer working within the Garda's traffic division.

"Having noticed this, I decided to check and see how many times officers have made this mistake.

"It is quite embarrassing to see that the system has created Prawo Jazdy as a person with over 50 identities."

The officer added that the "mistake" needed to be rectified immediately and asked that a memo be circulated throughout the force.

Cave house for sale in Festus

$300,000 is the starting bid on this eBay listing for a three-bedroom home built in a 15,000 sqft cave in Festus, MO.
It's got three freshwater springs and there are fourteen waterfalls on the property.

On May 19th, 2008, the City of Festus approved our occupancy inspection for the cave. Officially, this completed our project. There are still projects that can be started, completed and developed. Plenty of room in our 17,000 square foot home.

This is now where we live, work, raise our family and celebrate life! Here are a few of the details about the place: Historic, regionally famous cave: 15,000 square feet, divided into three main chambers.

The front chamber houses the main part of the 3-bedroom finished house.

The middle chamber holds the laundry room, storage, and a spare bath. The middle chamber made a great party room. 80 feet by 80 feet.

The back chamber still has the stage where Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, Ike and Tina Turner, the MC5 and many other bands performed.

Property: 2.8 scenic, partially wooded acres provide excellent privacy and the feel of the country right in the middle of town, just several blocks from shopping, dining, and other conveniences.

Energy efficiency: Geothermal and passive solar keep the home comfortable year-round without a furnace or air conditioning. In spite of the vast size of the home, our energy costs here run about the same as they did in our 800 square-foot starter home. The home naturally stays a little cooler than the average above-ground home, but we found that we acclimated quickly and easily.

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have hailed from:

United States, France, Canada, Pakistan, England, Philippines, Romania, Scotland, Sudan, Italy, Germany, Singapore, India, Chile, Japan, Russia, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Netherlands Antilles, Denmark, Mexico, Switzerland, Egypt, Poland, Netherlands and Malaysia.

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

You will impress others with your honesty and conviction.

Nice,

Thursday, February 19, 2009

What I Like About You


The Romantics

Repugican governors turning down stimulus money

In typical repugican fashion ... in a move calculated to screw the people over ...

A handful of repugican governors are considering turning down some money from the federal stimulus package, a move opponents say puts conservative ideology ahead of the needs of constituents struggling with record foreclosures and soaring unemployment.

Read the rest here.

Eating Your Veggies

They may not be as good for you as you thought.

If the economy isn't grim enough for you, just check out the February issue of the Journal of HortScience, which contains a report on the sorry state of American fruits and veggies. Apparently produce in the U.S. not only tastes worse than it did in your grandparents' days, it also contains fewer nutrients ...

Read the rest here.

We like Salmon ... Too Much

The smallest number of Pacific ocean salmon ever recorded swam back to the Sacramento river via San Francisco bay last fall, the latest evidence of the decline of the storied fish along the west coast, officials said Wednesday.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council, a federal body that regulates commercial and sport fishing, estimated that only 66,286 adult salmon returned to the Sacramento river to spawn. six years ago, the peak return was 13 times higher.

More here

Extinct bird rediscovered, then eaten

This rare Worcester's buttonquai, thought by scientists to be extinct, was recently photographed in the Philippines by a TV crew and then sold for food at a market.

From Cryptomundo:
 Wp-Content Uploads 090218-Extinct-Bird-Photo Big












Found only on the island of Luzon, Worcester’s buttonquail was known solely through drawings based on dated museum specimens collected several decades ago...

Wild Bird Club of the Philippines President Michael Lu asked a question that naturally came to my mind: “What if this was the last of its species?”

He told the Agence France-Press news agency that it’s unfortunate that the locals aren’t more conscious of the threatened wildlife around them.

Big Rat Caught

... and it is not a repugican! Imagine that ...

A gentleman known only as Mr Xian nabbed this massive six-pound rat on a street in Fuzhhou, China.

From The Telegraph:
 Telegraph Multimedia Archive 01298 Rat 1298860F "I did it, I caught a rat the size of a cat!" he shouted out afterward, according to the reports. Mr Xian is believed to still be in possession of the animal, after stuffing into a bag and departing the scene.

The local forestry unit in the city identified the nightmarish creature as a bamboo rat from initial photographs, but said that it would need to examine the rat more closely before making a final identification.

Science News

Beta-blockers relieve fear factor from scary memories

New research suggests that a class of drugs called beta-blockers can alleviate the anxiety associated with scary memories while leaving the memories intact. While beta blockers are commonly used to treat heart conditions, some musicians and public performers have used the drugs "off-label" to help overcome stagefright. Last year, McGill University neurobiologists reported that beta-blockers seemed to help people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Now, University of Amsterdam psychologist Merel Kindt and colleagues published a paper in Nature Neuroscience that confirms the PTSD clinical study.

From Science News:
Kindt and her colleagues showed subjects a photograph of a spider, which was accompanied by an electric shock, conditioning the participants to have a fearful memory of the image. Later, some participants were given a beta-blocker drug, propranolol, and others were given a placebo before being exposed to the image again. The beta-blocker group’s fear response was greatly reduced or even eliminated when the subjects were shown the spider photograph 24 hours after taking the drugs. “The people did not forget seeing the photograph of the spider,” Kindt says. ”But the fear associated with the image was erased.”

The researchers think beta-blockers work by changing the way the frightening memories are stored. Each time a memory is recalled it changes a little, and the new version is recorded in the long-term memory stash via brain chemical fluctuations in a process called reconsolidation. The beta-blockers could interfere with the brain chemicals, blocking reconsolidation of the emotional component of the memory, but leaving the rest of the memory intact, the scientists suggest.

Video Killed The Radio Star


The Buggles

Outbreak of horse tail theft puzzles and angers horse owners

Now here is a question that just doesn't come up every day.

Why is someone stealing horse tails?
An intruder broke into a pasture and unevenly cut off the hoof-length tails of half a dozen Belgian draft horses and ponies.

Other horse owners in Elbert County, Colorado, have also reported tail thefts, while similar cases have been recorded in recent years in Iowa, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida.

While the animals were not injured, as the tails were cut off below the fleshy dock, horses rely on their tails to swat away flies in summer and owners say they will take 10 years to grow back.

But police are puzzled as to the motive behind the crime. Horse owners said it would not make commercial sense to steal tails in such limited quantities, as horsehair fetches no more than $80 a pound.

Speeding bullet stopped by hair weave

From the UPI news wire:

Police in Kansas City, Mo., said a woman's tight hair weave stopped a bullet, rescuing her from injury and likely saving her life.

Officers said they arrived at the Country View Market at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday to find the woman's boyfriend had allegedly shot out the back window of a car, KSHB-TV, Kansas City, reported Thursday.

Investigators said the woman wasn't injured after her hair weave stopped the bullet and her boyfriend was taken into custody.

That headline alone makes the story worth posting! And there will be some armorers wanting to know the lady's hairdresser's name, to find out just how tight she wove that weave!

As the fortune cookie crumbles

Fortune cookie say:

You can go the distance and make things come together with a happy ending.

Welcome New Readers

Carolina Naturally would like to welcome our newest readers in Guadeloupe


Guadeloupe is our 161st country

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have hailed from:

Karaj, Tehran, Republic of Iran
Bishkek, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Pune, Maharashita, India
Sabadell, Catalonia, Spain
Paris, Ile-De-France, France

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

Creating new things today will bring you an exceptional level of satisfaction.

All Right!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Mom admits making disabled teen son sleep on porch

A 17-year-old with mental and physical disabilities is in protective custody after police say his mother admitted to making the teen sleep on the front porch in a tent in 30-degree weather.

When the mother and her son went to Catawba Family Center for an appointment Tuesday, the mother gave the center’s director a four-page, handwritten letter that said she’d made her son sleep on the back porch in a tent the night before because he’d been banging on the wall and on his bed, according to a Rock Hill police report.

The boy also said he’d been beaten several times, the report states.

The mother said she gave her son a tent, sleeping mats, blankets and a sleeping bag the night she made him sleep on the porch, the report states. The teen was taken into emergency protective custody, according to the report.

Rock Hill police are investigating.

*****

Momma should be horse-whipped! Irregardless of the boy's disabilities no one should be forced to sleep in 30 degree temperatures.

Serves the wanker right!

The sheriff of Richland County, South Carolina, is deeply saddened to announce that after making at least eight arrests, he lacks the evidence to prosecute anyone for the smoking of marijuana at a party where Olympic many-medallist Michael Phelps was photographed bonghuffing.

More here.

Speaking of health

Since most Americans who have health insurance are getting it through their employers, the current economic collapse means that many thousands of Americans are losing their health coverage when they their jobs ... to the tune of 14,000 people per day.

More at ThinkProgess.

Health News

In today's health news:

Decoy molecules drive cancer cells to suicide

Food counterfeiting, contamination outpace international regulatory systems Michigan State University analysts find growing threat

Vitamin D: Doctors urge women to show more skin

She talks to angels


The Black Crowes
(A rare acoustic version)

Peace in Darfur

A possible peace deal has been brokered in Darfur, so maybe the death toll (300,000 or so) will slow down.

More in The Guardian.

Items in the News

ACORN is leading rallies and political pressure to stop evictions of homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments.
Some local sheriffs are refusing to carry out such evictions.
More in the New York Times.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is rationing water, for the first time in decades.
More at Reuters.

As a going-away boondoggle, the shrub and the cabal left a late-running order to build 28 new Presidential helicopters, each more expensive than Air Force One.
Question: Do we have 28 Presidents?
More at the Associated Press.

Liars and Fools

Typical repugicans

Remember the repugicans' behavior in Congress in recent weeks, basically doing all they could do to prevent any aid from reaching the economy?
They're doing the same thing to California.
"With the state budget $41 billion in deficit, repugicans held out for corporate tax cuts, and then aren't even supporting the resulting bill."
More in Washington Monthly.

And Kansas is following California's lead -- suspending income tax refunds, and the state might not make its next payroll.
More at KSN-TV.

And I Quote

"Republicans doubled the debt in eight years and produced no new jobs doing it, they gave us an economic record that was totally bereft of any productive result are now criticizing Obama for spending money. You know, I balanced the budget, I ran surpluses. If I were in his position today, I would be doing what he's doing. This stimulus is our bridge over troubled waters till the bank reforms kick in. He did the right thing, he did everything he could to get Republican support."

~ President William Jefferson Clinton, listing the facts,

What Now?

For more check out whatnowtoons.com

Guess who has a tax problem

Sarah Palin must pay income taxes on thousands of dollars in expense money she received while living at her Wasilla home, under a new determination by state officials.

That gut feeling may actually reflect a reliable memory

A new study from Northwestern University offers precise electrophysiological evidence that such decisions may sometimes not be guesswork after all.

The research utilizes the latest brain-reading technology to point to the surprising accuracy of memories that can’t be consciously accessed.

During a special recognition test, guesses turned out to be as accurate or more accurate than when study participants thought they consciously remembered.

“We may actually know more than we think we know in everyday situations, too,” said Ken Paller, professor of psychology at Northwestern. “Unconscious memory may come into play, for example, in recognizing the face of a perpetrator of a crime or the correct answer on a test. Or the choice from a horde of consumer products may be driven by memories that are quite alive on an unconscious level.”

The study links lucky guesses to valid memories and suggests that people need to be more receptive to multiple types of knowledge, Paller said.

Full Story at Physorg

Emailing while asleep

According to a case described in the medical journal Sleep Medicine, a 44-year-old sleepwalker logged onto her computer and emailed out party invitations to friends. Fortean Times magazine looks at this case and several other bizarre episodes of somnambulism.

From Fortean Times:
The mails themselves were perhaps not up to the woman’s waking standard; each was in a random mix of upper and lower case characters, badly formatted and containing odd expressions. One read: “Come tomorrow and sort this hell hole out. Dinner and drinks, 4.pm. Bring wine and caviar only.” Another said simply: “What the…”

The writers of the report have dubbed this new variation of sleepwalking ‘zzz-mailing’. They say: “We believe writing an email after turning the computer on, connecting to the Internet and remembering the password displayed by our patient is novel. To our knowledge this type of complex behaviour requiring coordinated movements has not been reported before in sleepwalking. She was shocked when she saw these emails, as she did not recall writing them. She did not have any history of night terr­ors or sleepwalking as a child.”

Unlike simple sleepwalking, they argue, the activities the woman engaged in required complex behaviour and coordinated movement, as well being able to remember her login details. She had no memory of the events next day. It’s thought that the somnambulistic episode may have been triggered by prescript­ion medication.

Welcome new readers

We would like to say welcome to all our readers over at alwritenow.com

Americans' Standard of Living Permanently Changed

Because of the shrub, the cabal and the repugicans ... the "Worst Is Yet to Come:"

There's no question the American consumer is hurting in the face of a burst housing bubble, financial market meltdown and rising unemployment.

But "the worst is yet to come," according to Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, who believes American's standard of living is undergoing a "permanent change" - and not for the better as a result of:

  • An $8 trillion negative wealth effect from declining home values.
  • A $10 trillion negative wealth effect from weakened capital markets.
  • A $14 trillion consumer debt load amid "exploding unemployment", leading to "exploding bankruptcies."

"The average American used to be able to borrow to buy a home, send their kids to a good school [and] buy a car," Davidowitz says. "A lot of that is gone."

Going forward, the veteran retail industry consultant foresees higher savings rate and people trading down in both the goods and services they buy - as well as their aspirations.

The end of rampant consumerism is ultimately a good thing, he says, but the unraveling of an economy built on debt-fueled spending will be painful for years to come.

*****

So, keep who did this to our country in mind come the next elections!

The Uncler


Nice take on the current state of affairs in America.
(Funny, too.)

Radical cleric to be deported

Britain's highest court rejected suggestions that an extremist Muslim preacher once described as Osama bin Laden's ambassador in Europe faced torture if sent home to Jordan, clearing the way for his deportation.

Abu Qatada, who was jailed in 2002 over allegations he played a key role in raising money for extremists and advised militants planning terror attacks, has previously been convicted in Jordan for his role in two bombings. But lower courts said he couldn't be deported because of the torture risk — rulings reversed Wednesday by Britain's Law Lords.

Britain's Home Office moved immediately to expel him.

"I have signed Abu Qatada's deportation order, which will be served on him today," Britain's Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said in a statement. "I am keen to deport this dangerous individual as soon as I can."

Read more here.

And I Quote

Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.

~ Dalai Lama

A Fractured Leghorn


Foghorn Leghorn

Most People Believe Dreams Are Meaningful

Dreams might mean nothing, but many people take them seriously nonetheless, as Sigmund Freud did, new research finds.

People in at least three countries, including the United States, believe dreams contain important hidden truths, said researcher Carey Morewedge, an assistant professor Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

In six different studies, Morewedge and his colleagues surveyed nearly 1,100 people about their dreams. The results are detailed in the February issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Read the rest here.

New Readers

Carolina Naturally would like to welcome our newest readers in Kyrgyzstan


Kyrgyzstan

Our 160th country.

'Backward' comet makes its one and only appearance

An odd, greenish backward-flying comet is zipping by Earth this month, as it takes its only trip toward the sun from the farthest edges of the solar system. The comet is called Lulin, and there's a chance it can be seen with the naked eye — far from city lights, astronomers say. But you'll most likely need a telescope, or at least binoculars, to spot it.

The best opportunity is just before dawn one-third of the way up the southern sky. It should be near Saturn and two bright stars, Spica and Regula.

On Monday next week (February23rd) at 10:43 p.m. EST, it will be 38 million miles from Earth, the closest it will ever get, according to Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object program.

The story behind the comet is more intriguing than its appearance — the greenish tinge may be hard for many to discern. The color comes from a type of carbon and cyanogen, a poisonous gas.

Lulin was discovered by a Chinese teenager two years ago. It still has many of its original gases — gases that are usually stripped away as comets near the sun. Unlike most comets viewable from Earth, this one hasn't been this close to the sun before, Yeomans said.

While all the planets and most of the other objects in the solar system circle the sun counterclockwise, Lulin circles clockwise, said NASA astronomer Stephen Edberg. And thanks to an optical illusion, from Earth it appears as if the comet's tail is in the front as the comet approaches Earth and the sun.

"It essentially is going backwards through the solar system," he said.

It came from the outskirts of the solar system, 18 trillion miles away. Once it's made the journey around the sun, Lulin will gain enough speed to escape the solar system, Edberg said.

"If you are interested in comets, make sure you see it," he said. "But it's not going to be a real great blast for the general public."

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have hailed from:

Kuwait, Al Kuwayt, Kuwait
Vienna, Wien, Austria
Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela
Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Belgium
Coquitlan, British Columbia, Canada

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

You have to stay true to your idealistic nature.

You got it.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Cache of Ice Age fossils found in Los Angeles

Scientists are studying a huge cache of Ice Age fossil deposits recovered near the famous La Brea Tar Pits in the heart of the nation's second-largest city. Scientists are studying a huge cache of Ice Age fossil deposits recovered near the famous La Brea Tar Pits in the heart of the nation's second-largest city.

Among the finds is a near-intact mammoth skeleton, a skull of an American lion and bones of saber-toothed cats, dire wolves, bison, horses, ground sloths and other mammals.

Researchers discovered 16 fossil deposits under an old parking lot next to the tar pits in 2006 and began sifting through them last summer. The mammoth remains, including 10-foot-long tusks, were in an ancient riverbed near the fossil cache.

Officials of the Page Museum at the tar pits plan to formally announce their findings on Wednesday. The discoveries could double the museum's Ice Age collection.

Such a rich find usually takes years to excavate. But with a deadline looming to build an underground parking garage for the next-door art museum, researchers boxed up the deposits and lifted them out of the ground using a massive crane.

"It's like a paleontological Christmas," research team member Andie Thomer wrote in a blog post in July.

The research dubbed "Project 23" — because it took 23 boxes to house the deposits — uncovered fossilized mammals as well as smaller critters including turtles, snails and insects. Separately, scientists found a well-preserved Columbian mammoth that they nicknamed Zed.

An examination reveals Zed, which is 80 percent complete, had arthritic joints and several broken and re-healed ribs — an indication that he suffered a major injury during his life.

"It's looking more and more as if Zed lived a pretty rough life," Thomer blogged in December.

Some scientists not connected with the discovery said this is the first significant fossil find since the original excavations at the tar pits more than a century ago.

"Usually these things are either lost in the mixing or not recovered in the processing of the oily sand and soil they occur in," paleontologist Jere H. Lipps of the University of California, Berkeley wrote.

La Brea Tar Pits ranks among the world's famous fossil sites. Between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago, mammoths, mastodons,saber-tooth cats and other Ice Age beasts became trapped by sticky asphalt that oozing upward through cracks and fissures in the ground. The newly recovered fossils were also in asphalt.

Since 1906, more than a million bones have been unearthed from the sticky ponds.

Diamond no longer nature's hardest material

Also found at New Scientist ...

Diamond no longer nature's hardest material

Diamond will always be a girl's best friend, but it may soon lose favor with industrial drillers.

The gemstone lost its title of the "world's hardest material" to man-made nanomaterials some time ago. Now a rare natural substance looks likely to leave them all far behind – at 58% harder than diamond.

Zicheng Pan at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and colleagues simulated how atoms in two substances believed to have promise as very hard materials would respond to the stress of a finely tipped probe pushing down on them.

Extreme conditions

The first, wurtzite boron nitride has a similar structure to diamond, but is made up of different atoms.

The second, the mineral lonsdaleite, or hexagonal diamond is made from carbon atoms just like diamond, but they are arranged in a different shape.

Only small amounts of wurtzite boron nitride and lonsdaleite exist naturally or have been made in the lab so until now no one had realized their superior strength. The simulation showed that wurtzide boron nitride would withstand 18% more stress than diamond, and lonsdaleite 58% more. If the results are confirmed with physical experiments, both materials would be far harder than any substance ever measured.

Doing those tests won't be easy, though. Because both are rare in nature, a way is needed to make enough of either of them to test the prediction.

Rare mineral lonsdaleite is sometimes formed when meteorites containing graphite hit Earth, while wurtzite boron nitride is formed during volcanic eruptions that produce very high temperatures and pressures.

Flexible friend

If confirmed, however, wurtzite boron nitride may turn out most useful of the two, because it is stable in oxygen at higher temperatures than diamond. This makes it ideal to place on the tips of cutting and drilling tools operating at high temperatures, or as corrosion resistant films c on the surface of a space vehicle, for example.

Paradoxically, wurtzite boron nitride's hardness appears to come from the flexibility of the bonds between the atoms that make it up. When the material is stressed some bonds re-orientate themselves by about 90Āŗ to relieve the tension.

Although diamond undergoes a similar process, something about the structure of wurtzite boron nitride makes it nearly 80% stronger after the process takes place, says study co-author Changfeng Chen at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, an ability diamond does not have.

Single crystals

Natalia Dubrovinskaia from the University of Heidelberg in Germany, has carried out similar research.

"This is important because any attempt to give an insight into the mechanism that improves a material's property, especially hardness, is technologically extremely significant," she told New Scientist.

The more that is understood about what influences the hardness of materials, the more it will become possible to design hard materials to order, she explains.

However, she points out that in order to prove the theory, single crystals of each material would be needed. So far there are no known ways to isolate or grow such crystals of either material.

Sweet Jane


Velvet Underground
(A rare version with an extra verse in the outro)

First liquid water may have been spotted on Mars

NASA's Phoenix lander may have captured the first images of liquid water on Mars - droplets that apparently splashed onto the spacecraft's leg during landing, according to some members of the Phoenix team.

The controversial observation could be explained by the mission's previous discovery of perchlorate salts in the soil, since the salts can keep water liquid at sub-zero temperatures. Researchers say this antifreeze effect makes it possible for liquid water to be widespread just below the surface of Mars, but point out that even if it is there, it may be too salty to support life as we know it.

Read the rest at New Scientist.

Feeding a child

Salma Hayek breastfeeds a child and the morally retarded pass out in fits of apolexy

I posted this a few days ago on our sister blog and opined that some need to really 'get a life' to put it simply.

I post this here and opine:
SOME REALLY NEED AND I MEAN REALLY NEED TO 'GET A LIFE'.


This isn't 'news other than the fact that a woman did what a woman is able to do.
This isn't an 'issue' of any sort.

What is 'news' is that there are still good people on this planet, like Salma Hayek doing the same thing day in and day out.
What is the 'issue' here is the willfully retarded troglodytes feigning morality and the U.S. corporate media feeding the insanity.

*****

Way to go Salma and every other woman who feeds a hungry child!

Where's bin Laden hiding?

Science may have the answer ...

Fugitive terrorist Osama bin Laden is most likely hiding out in a walled compound in a Pakistani border town, according to a satellite-aided geographic analysis released today.

A research team led by geographer Thomas Gillespie of the University of California-Los Angeles used geographic analytical tools that have been successful in locating urban criminals and endangered species.

Basing their conclusion on nighttime satellite images and other techniques, the scientists suggest bin Laden may well be in one of three compounds in Parachinar, a town 12 miles from the Pakistan border.

Read the rest here.

More fire for Australia

Victoria is likely to come under the influence of another el Nino within the next three years, exacerbating the drought and the likelihood of bush fires, a senior Bureau of Meteorology climate scientist says. -

Hooked on Facts

Today's six facts are:

A person will burn seven(7) percent more calories if they walk on hard dirt compared to pavement.

Apple seeds are poisonous!

In Spain, it is common to pour chocolate milk on cereal for breakfast.

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

Babies are born without kneecaps.

Contrary to popular belief ... lightning travels from the ground upwards not from the sky downwards.

Bonus fact: 97% of all paper money in the U.S. has traces of cocaine on it.

Healing the 'Dead Zones'

Healing low-oxygen aquatic "dead zones" in the Chesapeake Bay and hundreds of other spots worldwide will be trickier than previously imagined because the low oxygen levels that make it impossible for most organisms to survive also kill bacteria crucial to removing nitrogen from the water.

Mouse of La Mancha


Pinky and The Brain

Unemployed Chinese workers go back to the villages

USA Today reports on the 26 million newly jobless Chinese people leaving the industrial cities of the Pearl River Delta and returning home to rural villages in the provinces, and of the strain this is putting on Chinese society.

For Lei Sanjun, 25, who spent seven years making sneakers in the coastal factory city of Dongguan in Guangdong province, government help will take too long to transform Bamboo Pole. "My hometown is backward. Just look at the poor roads and few factories here," he says.

The average income for Chinese farmers is about $690 a year — less than a third of what is paid in urban areas. The shortage of well-paying jobs explains why as many as half of the laborers in Bamboo Pole, population 50,000, decided to seek factory jobs — and why their return is so problematic now.

"It'll be a troubling year," predicts Victor Shih, a Northwestern University professor who researches China's economy.

Many of the jobless migrant workers will stay in cities to try their luck, possibly at smaller salaries.

For those who go home and stay, Shih says, rural life will come as a shock. "These young people were farmers, but they have lived in big cities, and their expectations are now a lot higher."

Chen Xiwen, a top rural planner for the Chinese government, says new arrivals will face entrenched rural problems such as pollution and land expropriation. He encourages government officials not to use force to break up protests.

Anti-terror laws are creating "police-state"

When the head spook speaks one should listen ...

Dame Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, has made a blistering public condemnation of the British government's "exploitation" of the threat of terrorism to create a "police state" where the terrorist objective of taking away Britons' liberty is achieved by government, and where crackdowns serve to inspire new terrorists.
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, Dame Stella said: "Since I have retired I feel more at liberty to be against certain decisions of the Government, especially the attempt to pass laws which interfere with people's privacy."

In the interview, published in the Daily Telegraph, she continued: "It would be better that the Government recognised that there are risks, rather than frightening people in order to be able to pass laws which restrict civil liberties, precisely one of the objects of terrorism: that we live in fear and under a police state..."

"Furthermore it has achieved the opposite effect: there are more and more suicide terrorists finding a greater justification."

Water company to pay its over-billing fines with a surcharge on water bills

Now here's the ticket - pay your over-billing fines by over-billing!

A court ordered the Seattle municipal water company to pay compensation to its customers for "fire hydrant" surcharges added to their bills (fire hydrants are a municipal responsibility and shouldn't be charged to general water customers). In order to pay the fines, the company is adding a "we have to pay you compensation" surcharge to its bills.
As a result of the latest court decision, anyone who was a Seattle Public Utilities water customer between March 2002 and December 2004 is due a refund under a court order issued in October. But current water customers will be the ones paying the bill.

Eligible water customers will get their full rebate in May or June. The surcharge and tax will be spread over 21 months.

There used to be hot springs on the surface of Mars

Evidence of Ancient Hot Springs on Mars Detailed in Astrobiology Journal

Data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) suggest the discovery of ancient springs in the Vernal Crater, sites where life forms may have evolved on Mars, according to a report in Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Several key papers in the issue are available free online at www.liebertpub.com/ast

Hot springs have great astrobiological significance, as the closest relatives of many of the most ancient organisms on Earth can thrive in and around hydrothermal springs. If life forms have ever been present on Mars, hot spring deposits would be ideal locations to search for physical or chemical evidence of these organisms and could be target areas for future exploratory missions.

In the research paper entitled, “A Case for Ancient Springs in Arabia Terra, Mars,” Carlton C. Allen and Dorothy Z. Oehler, from the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Directorate at the NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, propose that new image data from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on MRO depict structures in Vernal Crater that appear to have arisen as part of a major area of ancient spring activity. The data suggest that the southern part of Vernal Crater has experienced episodes of water flow from underground to the surface and may be a site where martian life could have developed.

“Hot spring deposits are key target areas for future Mars missions,” says Sherry L. Cady, PhD, Editor of Astrobiology and Associate Professor in the Department of Geology at Portland State University. “Such deposits on Earth preserve evidence of the fossilized remains of the microbial communities that inhabited the hot springs over a wide range of spatial scales. The potential to find key evidence indicative of life––biofabrics, microbial remains, chemical fossils in minerals––is high when sedimentary deposits form from hydrothermal fluids. Hot spring fluids are typically laden with dissolved mineral ions that, when they precipitate out and create the hydrothermal deposit, enhance fossilization of all types of biosignatures."

Astrobiology is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly in print and online increasing to 10 issues per year in 2009. The Journal provides a forum for scientists seeking to advance our understanding of life’s origins, evolution, distribution, and destiny in the universe. A complete table of contents and a full text for this issue may be viewed online at www.liebertpub.com/ast

Astrobiology is the leading peer-reviewed journal in its field. To promote this developing field, the Journal has teamed up with The Astrobiology Web to highlight one outstanding paper per issue of Astrobiology. This paper is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/ast and to visitors of The Astrobiology Web at www.astrobiology.com

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com) is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 60 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available at www.liebertpub.com

*****

Interesting, isn't it?!

Australian Flames

Internet hate messages calling for a suspected arsonist's "torture and death" renewed fears for his safety on Tuesday as the number killed by Australia's worst ever wildfires hit 200.

As thousands of firefighters battled six remaining blazes in Victoria state, a Singapore-owned power company also said it would fight compensation claims over one of the fires.

Lawyer Julian McMahon expressed concern for accused arsonist Brendan Sokaluk, 39, saying hate messages were posted on social networking sites after he was named in court on Monday.

McMahon told Victoria's Supreme Court that at least one relative of Sokaluk, who is in protective custody to guard him from vigilante attacks, had been threatened.

"Not only is there the understandable community anger which suddenly has a focus point, there's also vicious hatred appearing in another kind of medium," McMahon said, arguing for a ban on his photograph to remain in place.

Facebook groups were showing my client's photo and calling for his torture and death."

"The safety of my client is of concern. There have been threats made to one family member at least that I'm aware of," McMahon added.

Sokaluk is accused of starting one fire that killed 11 people and razed 151 homes around Churchill, east of Melbourne, on February 7. He faces up to 25 years in jail if convicted.

Meanwhile power utility SP AusNet said Tuesday it would "vigorously defend" a claim against it for compensation over one of the fires.

Survivors have reportedly launched a lawsuit claiming a downed power line sparked a blaze that killed more than 100 people and destroyed about 1,000 homes in the Kinglake area of Victoria earlier this month.

The claim against SP Ausnet, part of the Singapore Power Group, is expected to run to hundreds of millions of dollars, media reports said.

The company said only that it had been notified a writ was filed in the Victoria Supreme Court on Monday alleging that "faulty and/or defective power lines" caused loss and damage.

"SP AusNet believes the claim is both premature and inappropriate," the company said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange.

"However, SP AusNet will vigorously defend the claim," it said. "If the claim is pursued, SP AusNet advises that it has liability insurance which provides cover for bushfire liability."

A commission of inquiry into the fires has been charged with providing an interim report by August 17.

Eleven more bodies were discovered in the charred remains of homes as firefighters continued to pick through the wreckage, taking the toll to 200.

A Red Cross disaster relief fund has topped 100 million Australian dollars (65 million US dollars), with US pop singer Pink donating 250,000 dollars, joining other musicians such asLeonard Cohen who have also contributed.

*****

While I am all for letting the man get what he gave upon conviction calls for his torture and his death are over the line. Note, I said, upon conviction ... he may be innocent - doubtful, but he may be. It should also be noted that Australia does not have the death penalty in the first place.

The rage and outrage people are expressing should be spent working on the relief of the suffering of the victims of the fires and not making what amounts to catcalls calling for the torture and death of one man who is accused of setting one fire among many fires.

And, as a final note, if the time and energy being spent to vent the outrage was spent seeking those responsible for the rest of the fires (be they natural or arson) it would be time and energy well spent in lieu of the waste it is now.

Xanax'd Chimp

A 200-pound domesticated chimpanzee that badly mauled a woman in Connecticut had been given the the anti-anxiety drug Xanax because it had been agitated.

The chimp, which once starred in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola, was shot dead by police after the violent rampage.

Sandra Herold, who owned the 15-year-old chimp named Travis, wrestled with the animal and stabbed it after it inexplicably attacked her friend Charla Nash.

Nash had gone to Herold's home Monday to help her coax the chimp back into the house. Nash is hospitalized in critical condition.

Authorities say there was no known provocation.

Stamford, Connecticut police Capt. Richard Conklin says Herold gave Travis the Xanax in some tea. Conklin also suggested the animal may have attacked Nash because she was wearing her hair differently and wasn't recognized.

Fifty year study to alter the future of medicine

A medical study based at the North Carolina Research Campus needs a few good people to volunteer – 50,000 people to be exact.


The MURDOCK Study started enrolling people Monday for the research project that scientists say will rewrite medical treatment patients receive.

The Rev. Andy Langford, the pastor of Central United Methodist Church in Concord, is one of the participants in the study. His pride as a Duke alumnus is one of the reason's he chose to volunteer.

“This is a gift that people in our community can give not only to ourselves, but also to our children and our grandchildren,” Langford said. "We have no clue what they are going to discover."

MURDOCK stands for Measurement to Understand the Reclassification of Disease Of Cabarrus and Kannapolis. In October 2007, billionaire and Research Campus Developer David Murdock donated $35 million to launch the extensive study. Research will be done at the Core Lab of the North Carolina Research Campus.

Dr. Ashley Dunham, one of the many leaders conducting the study, said doctors will use the lab's technology "to look at response to disease at a molecular level." That means using science to personalize health care to the individual, instead of a one-pill-fits-all type of medicine.

”Hopefully with care that's more individualized, your response will be better, you'll get better faster and you'll stay healthy,” said Dr. Dunham.

The Cabarrus Health Alliance is one of the places around the county that is helping enroll participants in the MURDOCK study. This is a major undertaking because the goal is to have 50,000 people enrolled in the multi-million dollar health research initiative.

“We hope to have 50,000 people enrolled in four years. And we'll follow them over time. So it will be a longitudinal health study. And we'll collect that sample of blood when they join and that will be used for future research that comes out of the Core Lab and other things that Duke is doing,” said Dr. Dunham.

The health study will examine all major chronic diseases and illnesses.

It will take at least 50 years, so volunteers like Langford may never know the full impact of their participation.

"I'm not sure we'll ever actually see the results of that, but if we can contribute to somebody else, actually helping them, that might make a significant difference,” said Langford.

*****

If you're a Cabarrus County resident, find out more about how to get involved with the MURDOCK study here.

Two teens - Army barracks - One dead

A 16-year-old girl was found dead and another teenage girl was discovered unconscious in a barracks on this Army base south of Tacoma, the Army said Monday.

In a statement issued about 36 hours after base emergency personnel responded to a 911 call early Sunday morning, Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Piek said a Madigan Army Medical Center doctor declared one girl dead at the scene. The second teen was taken to Madigan for emergency medical care and was reported in stable condition Monday.

There were no outward signs of physical trauma on either girl, Piek said. He said Army doctors at Madigan were performing an autopsy on the dead girl, but results might not be available for at least a week.

The Army is investigating what the girls were doing in the barracks and whether drugs or alcohol were involved, he said. The presence of the two civilian girls "in the barracks at 3:30 a.m. is likely a violation of any of the units' barracks visitation policies," he said. (Like, Duh!)

Civilians entering and leaving the base are supposed to be carefully tracked.

A civilian entering the base has to show ID, Army spokesman John Norgren told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, adding, "You have to have a reason to be on the installation and you have to be sponsored" by a member of the military on base.

"It's quite a comprehensive system," Norgren said.

Piek said the Army would not be releasing the names of the girls because they were minors and civilians. The Fort Lewis Criminal Investigation Division was investigating both the circumstances and cause of death.

A Fort Lewis soldier who was "allegedly acquainted with the two girls" has been questioned, but no arrests have been made, Piek said.

The Army didn't release information about the incident until Monday because it took place during a holiday weekend and officials needed to notify the teens' families, the spokesman said.

Liars and Fools

Thief returns stolen car

From the "The truth is often stranger than fiction" Department:

When Wendy Boatwright's car was stolen out of her driveway, the Brentwood resident figured her 1997 Ford Mustang was gone for good. But in a classic case of truth being stranger than fiction, Boatwright's car was inded recovered - but not by local authorities. The rag top was returned by the thief.

"How funny is that?" asked Boatwright, who says she has no idea who the thief is. "Somebody steals my car and then decides it's not good enough and returns is? That's a first for me."

And a first for the Brentwood Police Department as well, When an officer arrived at Boatwright's home to take her report, she admits to being flummoxed. "The officer looked at me and said 'I hope this isn't a joke,'" said Boatwright. "And I thought, 'What is he talking about?' It turns out my car was parked on the backside of my house on a side street. The thief had taken it and then decided he didn't want it, I guess, and brought it back."

Proving that even thieves can be thoughtful, the robber, who had snuck into Boatwright's house the night before and snatched her keg ring, removed the car key and left it on a rock in her driveway along with her emergency roadside kit, presumably after he brought the car back.

But the mystery doesn't end there.

While the officer was taking Boatwright's statement, her neighbor came over and said her car had been stolen, too. The officer intially thought it was just a coincidence that two cars had been stolen on the same street, but when the Toyota Camry was later recovered a few miles away. the suspect was found standing by the white Camry with Boatwright's house keys in his pocket.

Morning Malaise


The Animaniacs

Russian Fortress of Brick Icicles

dannychoo_caves.jpg
The reason for it to have such a strange look is because it was used later by Russian army to test the influence of Russian alternative to napalm inside of the brick houses.

Due to very high temperature of napalm the bricks started melting just like ice melts in the spring forming the icicles, but those icicles are of red brick.


See more photos of this fortress at EnglishRussia.

Research Suggests That Green Tea Cuts Stomach Fat

Want to lose the gut? Drop the lattes and start sipping green tea. The Washington Post reports that while several studies have suggested that green tea boosts exercise-induced weight loss, new research published in the February issue of the Journal...

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have hailed from:

Dusseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
Franklin, North Carolina, United States
Franklin, Tennessee, United States
Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

The only way to truly comprehend your abilities is to use them.

Ain't that the truth!