Priorities: We are not quitters

President Obama spoke to both houses of Congress last night and to the American people outlining the priorities for correcting the errors of the past (especially the last eight years) and setting this nation back on track.

Below are some excerpts from that address.

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While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.

"The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more.

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We have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day.

Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here.

Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down. That is what my economic agenda is designed to do, and that’s what I’d like to talk to you about tonight.

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The recovery plan and the financial stability plan are the immediate steps we’re taking to revive our economy in the short-term. But the only way to fully restore America’s economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world. The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren’t preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility.

In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress. So often, we have come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or laundry lists of programs. I see this document differently. I see it as a vision for America – as a blueprint for our future.

My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue. It reflects the stark reality of what we’ve inherited – a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession.

Given these realities, everyone in this chamber – Democrats and Republicans – will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars. And that includes me.

But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity.

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Yesterday, I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office. My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs. As you can imagine, this is a process that will take some time. But we’re starting with the biggest lines. We have already identified two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade.

In this budget, we will end education programs that don’t work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don’t need them. We’ll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use. We will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas.

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I know that we haven’t agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed. That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground.

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But in my life, I have also learned that hope is found in unlikely places; that inspiration often comes not from those with the most power or celebrity, but from the dreams and aspirations of Americans who are anything but ordinary.

I think about Leonard Abess, the bank president from Miami who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus, and gave it out to all 399 people who worked for him, plus another 72 who used to work for him. He didn’t tell anyone, but when the local newspaper found out, he simply said, ''I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn't feel right getting the money myself."

I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community – how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. "The tragedy was terrible," said one of the men who helped them rebuild. "But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity."

And I think about Ty’Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina – a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, "We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters.

Human Nature

A gossip is one who talks to you about others, a bore is one who talks to you about himself; and a brilliant conversationalist is one who talks to you about yourself.

~ Lisa Kirk

Clusterf#@k to the Poor House

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - GOP Govs at Odds

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

Clusterf#@k to the Poor House - GOP Govs at Odds

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

Jon Stewart give repugican governors the business

If you hide income to evade taxes

and you are a repugican seeking to block disclosure of your cheating and not fulfilling your obligations honestly ...

You should be stripped of your citizenship - not be allowed to sue

UBS was sued on Tuesday in a Swiss federal court by wealthy American clients seeking to prevent the disclosure of their identities as part of a tax-evasion investigation by the United States justice department.

More in the New York Times

The Swiss will do the correct thing and laugh these suits out of court and out of the country.

Images of domestic bliss

Images of domestic bliss

(You realize of course that in the rest of the photos she is wearing only the shoes, right?!)

Moments of Ephiphany

The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I'll never be as good as a wall.

~ Mitch Hedberg

Darlin' Be Home Soon

The Lovin' Spoonful

Just maybe newspapers aren’t worth saving after all

Responding to a long, righteous article in the New Republic about why the decline of newspaper is going to be bad for democracy, ex-journalist Dan Conover holds forth:

Goose a few newspaper journalists these days and they’re likely to exclaim something about why Americans should care about saving their industry. And it’s likely to sound something like this: “Without us protecting the public as investigative watchdogs, government corruption is going to run amok!”

Which might be a compelling point, were it not for five little things:

1. Watchdogging government is hardly the primary purpose of modern newspapers (it doesn’t even make the Top Three in most outfits), and if Watchdogging ever interferes with Job No. 1 (generating double-digit profit margins for shareholders), Watchdogging is right out;
2. Few newspaper “watchdog” reports are based primarily on original research;
3. Newspaper editors, for all their posturing about government openness, have roughly zero interest in opening up their own processes and decision-making to public inspection;
4. The amount of resources devoted to truly investigative, power-challenging, applecart-upsetting, potentially unpopular stories at the average American newspaper is likely dwarfed by the comics page budget;
5. And finally, this argument assumes without evidence that even if my objections were untrue, newspapers would still be the appropriate place for this important societal function. […]

Ever wonder who does most of the public-policy grunt work in America? For the good guys, it’s typically underpaid crusaders at civic-minded non-profit groups, people who care about clean water and safe food and healthy children other such left-wing nonsense. Newspapers count on these scruffy muckrackers, even though they typically distance themselves from their “radical” agendas.

The bad guys, like the American Petroleum Institute, or, say Envron, hire platoons of well-groomed lobbyists, experts and public-relations specialists to sell their stories. And even though they are deliberately engaged in distorting the truth to protect their interests, these people are treated as respectable, credible media sources.

Much of what passes for watchdog investigative reporting is based on studies conducted by these pesky non-profits, or by anonymous government underlings in some state auditor’s office, or the federal GAO, and so on. They produce the proof, editors build stories around their findings, and each year on press awards night, some reporters get plaques that credit them with the whole enterprise.

Is there newspaper reporting, investigative or otherwise, that takes on a public-policy issue and challenges ruling orthodoxy without a boost from an interest group? Probably. But newspapers generally refuse to poke the status-quo without being able to cite some interest group for raising the issue. Wanna know why? Because the status quo is where the money and power are. Do the math.

One final thing about this weird dance of newspaper reporters and watchdog groups. In the old days, each benefited. Today, the only thing the newspaper gives the watchdog is greater exposure — not the ability to publish, not the credibility to contact influencers and decision-makers. What newspaper people won’t tell you is that their value to the original institutional watchdoggers is declining. Rapidly. […]

These systemic failures do nothing to limit government corruption. Rather, the first-hand knowledge of how easy it is to warp press coverage and spin public opinion has the opposite effect. Through our sloppy standards and the overarching greed of our corporate paymasters, my former profession has encouraged generations of corporate and governmental sleaze. We didn’t watchdog President Bush’s claims about WMDs. We didn’t take seriously the voices that had been warning for years about the impending collapse of the subprime mortgage market. If your local newspaper gives the mayor’s denials of proven but complex facts equal weight with the facts themselves, then your city hall is likely rife with sleek, smug injustice. And so on.

Full Story

Newspaper have abdicated their position as have the broadcast media as 'watchdogs' in favor of becoming 'lapdogs' and as such should die as ignoble a death as possible along with their brethren in the broadcast media.

It is the bloggers who are serving as the 'watchdogs' now and are watching and reporting those who would do harm to mankind such as neo-cons, religio-fanatics, and the ilk - even those claiming to be 'bloggers' but are in fact syncophants of the neo-cons, religio-fanatics, and the ilk trying to obfuscate, distort and otherwise mislead and misinform.

If liberty means anything ...

The truth often is found when and where you least expect it.

Golfer's periscope

All the wacky things people come up with for a game involving a small sphere and a long stick:

A NOVEL “skyscraper” periscope shows golfers the blind fairway at the third hole at the Aberoovey golf course in Wales.

The unusual periscope is 30 feet tall. At the third hole of the course the fairway rises so abruptly from the driving tee that golfers can not see the green even though the hole is only 165 yards long. By peering through the periscope, waiting golfers can see in what direction to drive and also note when the putting green is clear.

The periscope is a hollow wood tube fastened to a pole. The top of the instrument is covered with a gabled roof to protect it from rain.

Tall Periscope Aids Golfers (December 1933)

And I Quote

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.

~ Victor Borge

Circuit City liquidators selling broken returns

In further proof that Circuit City's liquidators are crooks and liars ...

A reader of Kotaku bought a game.

Inside the box was a disk ripped up by a shredder, with the previous owner's name carved into it.

All sales final!

Banty Raids

Foghorn Leghorn

Science News

Today's Science News:

Crop scientists say biotechnology seed companies are thwarting research

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Ankara, Ankara, Turkey
The Hague, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Punta Cana, La Altagracia, Dominican Republic
Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel
Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Manila, Manila, Philippines
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Paranaque, Manila, Philippines
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Beijing, Beijing, China
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

as well as Lithuania, Brazil and Scotland.

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

Creative thinking has always been your specialty, and today you can use it to make things happen.

Cool Beans!

Mexico unveils largest donated artifact collection

Mexico put on display selections from the largest private collection of archaeological artifacts ever donated to the government.

The full set of 8,100 pieces range in size from quarter-ton statues of the god Quetzalcoatl to tiny figurines. Select pieces were exhibited at the Xochicalco archaeological site south of Mexico City.

The pre-Hispanic relics belonged to American dentist Milton Leoff, who settled in Mexico and began collecting artifacts from the Aztec, Olmec, Mayan and other cultures in the 1930s.

A 1972 law set limits on private collections, but allowed collectors to keep their pieces if they registered them with the government.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History called the collection the largest private donation of its kind to the Mexican government.

The agency says Leoff's widow, Nadine Vinot, donated the collection on the condition it be kept together.

By the way ...

Oh, by the way, in case you haven't noticed today has been Mardi gras.

McPain loses again

A court has refused John McCain's request for dismissal, so Jackson Browne's lawsuit against McCain will proceed.

Read all about it at Music News Net.

Health News

Today's Health News:

Non-toxic electrolyzed water cleans, degreases, and treats athlete's foot

Crop scientists say biotechnology seed companies are thwarting research

Team finds secret that could stem flu viruses

Vitamins are not of equal value

Liars and Fools

Today's Liars and Fools are:

Keyes calls for US military to disobey Obama's orders
More treason from the repugicans

Fox's Brick sees America on the road to civil war led by American "Bubba" militias
The war he refers to was averted by the election of Obama - had McPain 'won' there would have been a war.

CNBC's Santelli said the economy was healthy right before it crashed
Denial - typical of repugicans

McConnell (r-Kentucky) still peddling the old repugican lie about small business taxes
One note, one trick dog and pony show ...

Sessions' (r-Texas) office lies claiming he didn't know Stanford
Yeah, and tell us another one ...

Shelby (r-Georgia) joins Obama citizenship doubters, then backtracks
Or at least he wants you to think he's backtracking.

Dimbulb lies saying that taxes on "most small businesses" would increase if the shrub's tax cuts on wealthiest Americans expire
AKA as vulgar pigboy and for good reason

Common Items, Uncommon Uses

In the previous post we talked about 5 uses for alka seltzer other than acid relief - here we talk about other common items and uncommon uses: All 108 of them ...

Some ordinary, unassuming household objects have hidden superpowers. And most of these items cost less than a couple of bucks. There are cult followings of vinegar and duct tape. Entire tomes have been written about the virtues of baking soda.

We scoured cleaning guides, magazines and the Internet, along with asking our friends, moms and grandmothers to find the best double-duty ideas.

The next time you stain a shirt, smell something funky or think about tossing an old banana peel, check our 1o8 extraordinary uses first. Not only will you be going green, you'll be saving some green.

Alka-Seltzer

1. Clean a toilet. Drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets, wait 20 minutes, brush and flush.

2. Attract fish. Fill a tube jig with a piece of Alka-Seltzer and cast off.

3. Remove burned food from cookware. Fill your cookware with warm water, then dissolve six tablets and allow to sit for an hour or so.

4. Soothe insect bites. Dissolve two tablets in water and saturate a cloth or cotton ball with the solution, and place on the bite for 30 minutes. Don't do this if you are allergic to aspirin, which is a key ingredient in Alka-Seltzer.

Aluminum foil

6. Sharpen your scissors by cutting through six to eight layers of aluminum foil.

7. Shine rusty chrome. With a bit of water on a wadded-up piece of aluminum foil, you can rub most rust spots off chrome car parts.

8. Keep birds out of your fruit trees. Hang twisted strips of aluminum foil all over your fruit trees using fishing line. The light reflections and the sound will keep birds away from your fruit.

9. Keep the bottom of your fireplace or charcoal grill from becoming encrusted with soot. Line the bottom of your fireplace or grill with aluminum foil before starting a fire, then dispose of the foil after the fire is out and the coals are completely cooled.

10. Eliminate electromagnetic interference if your TV and DVD player are stacked on top of each other. If the picture is fuzzy, place a sheet of aluminum foil between them.

11. Iron more effectively by putting a piece of aluminum foil under the ironing board cover. The foil will reflect the heat from the iron so both sides get ironed at once.

12. Move furniture with ease. To slide big pieces of furniture over a smooth floor, place small pieces of aluminum foil under the legs. Put the dull side of the foil down - the dull side is actually more slippery than the shiny side.

13. Clean starch build-up from your iron by running a hot iron over a piece of aluminum foil.

Aspirin

14. Remove perspiration stains from white fabric by dissolving two aspirin in half a cup of warm water and applying to stained fabric. Leave for a couple of hours before washing.

15. Eliminate chlorine discoloration from hair by dissolving eight tablets in a glass of water and rubbing into your hair. Leave for about 10 minutes and then rinse. Shampoo.

16. Reduce pimples by making a paste with water and crushed aspirin. Cover the pimple with this paste; rinse after a few minutes.

17. Recharge a car battery by dropping two tablets into the battery itself. The aspirin's acetylsalicylic acid will combine with the battery's sulfuric acid to produce one last charge. Drive to the nearest service station.

Banana peel

18. Polish leather shoes by using a de-stringed banana peel. Finish by buffing with a soft cloth or paper towel.

19. Remove warts by rubbing the inside of a little piece of a banana peel on a wart every night for several weeks.

20. Detract aphids by burying dried or cut-up banana peels a few inches deep around the base of rosebushes.

21. Nourish your skin by mashing a medium-sized banana and combining with \-cup plain yogurt and 2 tablespoons honey to make a facial mask. Leave on 20 minutes.

22. Tenderize a roast by adding a peeled banana to the pan.

23. Wipe your houseplant leaves down with the inside of a banana peel to remove dirt and leave a shine.

24. Rub scraped knees with the inside of a banana peel to promote healing.

Baking soda

25. Extinguish a grease or electrical fire. Scatter the powder by the handful to safely put it out.

26. Clean combs and brushes in a soda solution.

27. Wash glass or stainless steel coffee pots (but not aluminum) in a soda solution (3 tablespoons soda to 1 quart water).

28. Sprinkle soda on barbecue grills, let soak, then rinse off.

29. Sprinkle soda on greasy garage floor. Let stand, scrub and rinse.

30. For a badly burned pan with a thick layer of burned-on food: pour a thick layer of soda directly onto the bottom of the pan, then sprinkle on just enough water so as to moisten the soda. Leave the pot overnight, then scrub it clean the next day.

31. Soak your shower curtains in water and soda to clean them.

32. Sprinkle soda in tennis shoes, socks, boots and slippers to eliminate odor.

33. Repel rain from your car windshield. Put gobs of baking soda on a dampened cloth and wipe windows inside and out.

34. Soak dried beans in a mixture of soda and water to make them more digestible.

35. Freshen your carpet and upholstered furniture. Sprinkle them with baking soda. Allow them to sit undisturbed for a half hour or so. Then vacuum.

36. Eliminate water rings on your finished wood with a paste of baking soda and toothpaste. Dip a soft cloth in the paste and rub the water spots away.

37. Get rid of ants in your house by mixing equal parts of baking soda and salt together. Sprinkle the mixture wherever you see the intruders coming in.

38. Fill in some nail holes in a plastered wall with a paste of white toothpaste and baking soda.

Beer

39. Use beer instead of water in your favorite batter mix, and it will have a delicious flavor.

40. Soften hair and add body with a beer shampoo. Mix a raw egg together with half a can of beer and massage it into your hair. Rinse and style as usual. Beer also makes an excellent conditioner for hair. Massage a cup of warm beer into your hair and scalp after washing and allow it to set for half an hour or so. Rinse thoroughly.

41. Fertilize plants. Use all of those half-filled bottles and cups of beer after a party to pour on your houseplants and garden vegetables. The plants will love the nourishment that the yeast adds to the soil.

42. Get rid of slugs in your garden. Put a shallow dish of beer into your soil buried up to the lip. The slugs will be attracted to the beer and become stuck in it. Empty the dish each day and replace with new beer as they are attracted to the smell.

Cotton balls

43. Fight mildew in hard-to-reach spots in the bathroom. Soak a few cotton balls in bleach and place them in those difficult spots. Leave them to work their magic for a few hours. Finish by rinsing with a warm-water wash.

Dawn dishwashing detergent

44. Get a better manicure by soaking fingernails in the soapy solution, rinse and apply polish. The polish will adhere better to the nail and spread smoother.

45. Pre-treat oil-based laundry stains, such as lipstick and grease.

46. Soak your oily and grimy tools to get them clean.

47. Kill pet fleas by washing pets in a soapy water bath.

Dryer sheets

48. Repel mosquitoes on your patio. Hang a sheet when outdoors during the mosquito season.

49. Freshen the air by placing an individual sheet in a drawer, hang one in the closet, locker at the health club, locker at work or under the seat of your car or truck.

50. Run a sewing needle through a sheet before sewing to prevent the thread from tangling.

51. A sheet left inside luggage or travel baggage can prevent musty odors.

52. Eliminate static electricity from the television or computer screen.

53. Dissolve soap scum from shower door and tile walls. Clean the surfaces with a sheet.

54. Repel bees and bugs by tucking some in your picnic basket or under lawn furniture. You can also rub a sheet directly on your bare skin.

55. Combat static on your clothes, stockings and hair by patting with a sheet.

56. De-stink your pets: scrub incoming dogs or cats (especially wet ones) with a dryer sheet before they enter the home.

57. Soak cookware with burnt or baked-on food in warm water, with a dryer sheet or two. Makes clean-up easier than you'd expect. Also works on cook tops and dingy cabinet doors.

Epsom salt

58. Exfoliate skin by massaging handfuls of epsom salt over wet skin, starting with your feet and continuing up toward the face. Have a bath to rinse.

59. Remove excess oil from hair by adding 9 tablespoons of epsom salt to 1/2 cup of oily hair shampoo. Apply one tablespoon of the liquid to your hair when it is dry; rinse with cold water. Next, pour lemon juice or organic apple cider vinegar through the hair, leave on for 5-10 minutes, and then rinse.

60. Remove splinter by soaking in epsom salt.

Grocery bags

61. Preserve paint brushes. To keep brushes and rollers from drying out, place them in bags and tie them or wrap them with rubber bands to keep air out. The tools will stay moist and protected for a day or so.

62. Bulk up curtain valances by stuffing them in the valances for a resilient pouf. Can also be used to stuff crafts or pillows.

63. Treat chapped hands by rubbing with a thick layer of petroleum jelly and placing them in a plastic bag for 15 minutes to half an hour.

Honey

64. Soak in a milk and honey bath. Add about 1/3 cup of honey to 2 1/4 cups of milk. Mix thoroughly. You can even add a few drops of essential oil to give your honey milk bath additional scent.

65. Treat minor skin abrasions and wounds with honey's antibacterial and antifungal properties. Apply a small amount twice daily to a wound or burn to speed up the healing process.

66. Help a hangover by spooning a few tablespoons of honey on toast for breakfast. The fructose speeds up the metabolism of alcohol.

Ice cube trays

67. Organize jewelry, small nuts and bolts and buttons in easy-to-stack trays.

Ketchup

68. Get rid of chlorine green hair with a ketchup shampoo. Massage ketchup generously into your hair and leave it for 15 minutes, then wash it out, using baby shampoo.

Lemon

69. Relieve a sore throat. Cut a lemon in half. Skewer one half over a medium flame on a gas stove or an electric burner set on high and roast until the peel turns golden brown. Let cool slightly, then mix the juice with 1 teaspoon of honey.

70. Whiten fingernails. Rub a wedge on the surface of your nails.

71. Remove soft cheese or other sticky foods from a grater. Rub both sides of the grater with the pulp side of a cut lemon.

72. Create blond highlights by adding 1/4 cup lemon juice to 3/4 cup water and rinse your hair with the mixture. Then sit in the sun until your hair dries. Lemon juice is a natural bleach.

Mayonnaise

73. Condition your hair by massaging it into your hair and scalp. Cover your head with a shower cap, wait several minutes, and shampoo.

74. Relieve sunburn pain by slathering mayonnaise liberally over the affected area.

75. Clean piano keys. If the keys to your piano are starting to yellow, tickle the ivories with a little mayonnaise applied with a soft cloth. Wait a few minutes, wipe with a damp cloth and buff.

76. Remove bumper stickers by rubbing some mayonnaise over the entire sticker. Let it sit for several minutes and wipe it off. It will also remove tar and pine sap.

Marshmallows

77. Stop ice cream drips by placing a large marshmallow in the bottom of the cone before adding the ice cream.

78. Keep brown sugar soft by adding a few marshmallows to the bag before closing it.

Milk

79. Use milk to shave with if you have nothing else to use as a barrier.

80. Clean patent leather shoes to a gleaming shine by rubbing them with a little milk on a soft cloth. Leave to dry and then buff them.

81. Remove ink stains on clothing by soaking the area in milk. This can take anything from half an hour to overnight to remove the stain completely.

82. Repair fine cracks in china plates and cups can by boiling them in milk. The milk reacts with the kaolin in china and closes the crack. Place the plate in a pan, cover it with milk (fresh or reconstituted powdered milk) and bring to a boil. As soon as it starts to boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Mini photo album

83. Use to hold information for a DIY project: fabric swatches, paint color chips, measurements.

Nail polish

84. Make cup measurements visible by using a brightly colored polish to trace over basic measurement levels.

85. Mark levels inside a bucket with a color that stands out.

86. Seal an envelope by brushing a little polish on the underside of the flap.

87. Protect your belt buckle's shine by covering new or just-shined belt buckles with a coat of clear polish.

88. Stop a windshield crack from spreading by brushing both sides of the glass with polish to fill it.

Newspaper

89. Store sweaters and blankets in a few sheets to keep moths away.

90. Clean and polish windows without leaving streaks.

91. Make an impromptu ironing board by filling a pillowcase with a short stack of newspapers. Place on floor or countertop for ironing.

92. Put traction under your car wheels if you are ever stuck on a patch of ice or slush by placing a dozen sheets of newspaper under each rear wheel to gain traction.

Oatmeal

93. Treat itchy poison ivy or chicken pox by soaking in an oatmeal bath. Grind 1 cup of oatmeal into a thin powder, pour into cheesecloth or into a clean old stocking and tie into a knot. Suspend the bag under the faucet as it fills with warm water.

Olive oil

94. Polish wood furniture with a teaspoon of oil and a soft rag.

95. Lubricate measuring cups and spoons for easy cleanup of sticky ingredients such as honey, grain mustards and syrups.

96. Control hair frizz by combing a bit of olive oil through dry hair to tame the frizz and flyaways on humid days or in the winter.

97. Free a stuck zipper. Use a cotton swab to apply olive oil to the teeth of a zipper, then gently ease the tab down.

98. Remove paint from your skin.

99. Fix a squeaky door by using a rag or cotton swab to apply olive oil to the top of a problematic hinge.

Soda pop

100. Clean car battery terminals. The acidic properties will eliminate corrosion. Pour some soda over the battery terminals and let it set. Remove the sticky residue with a wet sponge.

101. Loosen rusted-on nuts and bolts. Soak a rag in the soda and wrap it around the bolt for several minutes.

102. Make cut flowers last longer by pouring about 1/2 cup into the water in a vase full of cut flowers. The sugar in the soda will make the blossoms last longer.

103. Clear out a slow drain by pouring a 2-liter bottle of cola down the drain to help remove the clog.

Tissue box (empty)

104. Store empty plastic grocery bags.

Vinegar

105. Remove stubborn price tags or stickers. Paint them with several coats of vinegar, let the liquid soak in for five minutes, then wipe away the residue.

106. Make wool sweaters fluffier. Drop in a couple of capfuls of vinegar during the rinse cycle for an extra-soft feel.

107. Kill weeds between cracks in paving stones and sidewalks. Fill a spray bottle with straight vinegar and spray multiple times.

Wine bottle (empty)

108. Put in boots to prevent crease line.

Five things to do with Alka-Seltzer

There's more to Alka-Seltzer than reliving acid and indigestion discomfort. Some are listed below:

1. Deep-clean vases by filling them with a mixture of warm water and tablets; soak them for an hour.

2. Speed-scrub the toilet twice a week by dropping two tablets in the bowl; 15 minutes later, brush with a toilet brush

3. Make an all-purpose cleaner by dropping three tablets into warm water. Once the fizzing stops, the cleaning can start.

4. Safely unclog a drain with three tablets. Drop them into the drain and then run hot water for a few seconds.

5. Build rockets with the kids by filling an empty film canister halfway with warm water and dropping in half of a tablet. Quickly snap on the lid, put down the canister and watch it take off (best if done outside, for obvious reasons).

Fur Elise

Ludwig von Beethoven

Odd Life Found in Great Lakes

From LiveScience:

Scientists have found some odd life forms in Lake Huron.

Peculiar geological formations are supporting floating plumes and purple mats of microbes dwelling in enclaves of the Great Lake, researchers report. The odd biology is more akin to what is found in some of Earth's most extreme environments.

The mats are located about 66 feet (20 meters) below the surface of Lake Huron — the third largest of North America's Great Lakes — where researchers have found sinkholes made by water dissolving parts of an ancient underlying seabed.

Around these sinkholes are brilliant purple mats of cyanobacteria — cousins of microbes found at the bottoms of permanently ice-covered lakes in Antarctica — and pallid, floating ponytails of other microbial life. The water there is dense, oxygen-free and salty, and therefore hostile to most familiar, larger forms of life in the lakes.

The scientists report that some deep sinkholes act as catch basins for dead and decaying plant and animal matter and collect a soft black sludge of sediment topped by a bacterial film.

These environments are also similar to those around deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, where many odd forms of life have also been found.

In the oxygen-depleted water, cyanobacteria carry out photosynthesis using sulfur compounds rather than water and give off hydrogen sulfide, the smelly rotten-egg gas. Where the sinkholes are deeper still and light fails, microorganisms use chemical means rather than photosynthesis to metabolize the sulfurous nutrients.

Groundwater beneath Lake Huron is dissolving minerals from the defunct seabed and carrying them into the lake to form these exotic, extreme environments, said Bopaiah A. Biddanda of Grand Valley State University, in Muskegon, Mich. Biddanda is one of the leaders of the study of these odd environments.

"You have this pristine fresh water lake that has what amounts to materials from 400 million years ago ... being pushed out into the lake," said team co-leader Steven A. Ruberg of the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Biddanda, Ruberg and their colleagues are trying to understand how long ago the minerals were deposited that are now entering the lake and how fast the salty brew containing them is arriving.

The work, described in Eos, a weekly newsletter put out by the American Geophysical Union, "might also lead to the discovery of novel organisms and previously unknown biochemical processes, furthering our exploration of life on Earth," Biddanda said.

Teen pleads guilty to murdering a homeless man

... and the victim's family isn't happy about it.

A teen pleaded guilty today to stabbing a homeless man to death in Gaston County.

Now, as prosecutors are saying the killing was gang-related, family members are calling for a harsher punishment.

"I feel like he should have gotten more time. It's wrong what he's done," said Robin Smith.

Her brother, Royce Mathis, is the victim in this case. It was a day of overwhelming emotions for family members in court.

The victim's brother-in-law, Dale Saine, is angry that the prosecutor allowed a plea deal in the case.

"How can they allow somebody like that to take a plea bargain, to cut them slack, when he didn't cut my brother-in-law no slack when he was stabbed in the neck four times," Saine said.

Other relatives agree. They feel justice was not served.

In court they watched and listened as the prosecution explained how then 18-year-old Jamod Burney stabbed a homeless man for nothing more than recognition from a gang.

The prosecutor said it was, "An attempt, I guess, to gain some more attention from the other local members."

Even the defense attorney agrees Burney admitted to stabbing Mathis several times in the neck in June 2007, but the prosecution allowed a plea deal where Burney pled guilty to second-degree murder instead of first.

"I don't think the justice system did its job," said Saine.

Letting tears out, Smith added, "I hope somebody will get him one day like that and let him suffer. Show him how it really feels."

Burney was sentenced to at least 25 years in prison.

The prosecutor said two other juveniles were also involved in the stabbing. One of the teens has already pled guilty to different charges for this case. The third teen is still waiting for his day in court.

Eighth man charged with cockfighting

Caldwell County, North Carolina authorities have arrested an eighth man in connection with a cockfighting operation that sheriff's deputies found on Saturday.

Deputies arrested David Lee Keller, 42, of Lenoir, on Tuesday and charged him with cockfighting, a felony.

Seven other men were charged in the case Saturday, when authorities say deputies found a cockfighting ring at a Colletsville-area farm after receiving a tip.

Keller was at the Caldwell County jail Tuesday afternoon under $5,000 bond.

Meanwhile, more than 60 roosters confiscated from the farm were being tested for avian flu. Animal control officials euthanized one of the birds Tuesday due to injuries sustained in suspected cockfighting.

A British biologist has landed a 55 stone stingray - the biggest freshwater fish ever caught using a rod.

Ian Welch spent 90 minutes tussling with the giant stingray and it took 13 grown men to heave it out of the water.

This fish measured 7ft long and 7ft wide, while its long sting measured 10ft.

It has smashed the previous record of 46 stone for a huge catfish caught in 2005.

Mr Welch, a freshwater biologist, had been visiting Thailand to help with a stingray tagging programme when he landed the fish on the Maeklong River.

The 45-year-old said he was nearly pulled over the side of the fishing boat when the specimen took his bait.

Read the rest here.

And for more animal stories click the link below

Animals in the News

Or check out even more beginning with Freaky-Faced Fish Squirts Along in Indonesian Waters

And I Quote

"It takes a lot of nerve for a four-and-a half hour Oscar broadcast to give out an award for editing."

~ David Letterman

Veteran of the Psychic Wars

Blue Oyster Cult

And the difference is ...

Do you think one of the cabal's jerkwads would have done the same thing?

*****

The word is that Rahm Emanuel took time out last Saturday night to see The Wrestler at the E Street Cinema last night with a Secret Service Agent.

It was not a quiet night out.

The man sitting next to Rahm -- literally sharing an armrest with him -- had a seizure of some kind.

Rahm used some vulgarities to impress upon the movie theater staff -- who wanted to move the guy out of the movie theater so they could restart the film -- that they should wait until EMS got there.

Emanuel stayed and helped the man, until EMS arrived.

*****

In an answer to the opening question ... NO.

Did You Know ...

The bark of an older Redwood tree is fireproof.

Public to Feds: Help the regular people first

As President Obama outlines his priorities to a joint session of Congress tonight, Americans overwhelmingly support (83% in fact) new spending to help individuals — including creating jobs and rescuing struggling homeowners — but oppose bailouts for automakers and banks.

Just another proof that repugicans are out of touch with reality because they still insist on tax cuts and bailouts for the automakers and banks.

In the Headlines

On CNN's website they have a headline that boldly states:

"Poll: politicians trusted more than business leaders on economy."

While that may be true - it ain't saying much!

Subtopia: The Floating Labor Camps of the Now

Prison ships converted to guest worker housing

As unemployment in Britain spikes, anti-foreign labor sentiment is running high, and multinationals stand accused of violating their labor agreements by shipping in cheap workers from abroad. One employer is housing its guest workers on a former prison ship that serves as both cheap housing and protection from angry mobs.

They're floating labor camps, seabound slums, theoretically tolerable migrant housing “converted” out of old prison barges.

But, one can only wonder, what “converted” actually means here, and what defines "tolerable." By the sounds of it, perhaps a few locks have been taken off the doors, a few bars removed from the cabin (cell) windows, but essentially, from what I can tell, the rest is what you might still imagine.

All of which naturally conjures wretched images of slave ships from the colonial era swarming the coasts of the frontier, and begs some very basic questions here: what are the regulations around reusing or “converting” prison barges into suitable housing? What are the health standards that apply to such floating migrant camps? What constitutes appropriate compensation for their work? Are they protected by any certain safety guarantees? Is there any political agency to act on their behalf? How are these labor barges governed internationally if they operate as a sea-based entity, perhaps domiciled outside the boundaries of formal juridical sovereignty? I mean, I don't know. What is the oversight for this type of practice, if any?

Subtopia: The Floating Labor Camps of the Now.

Circuit City liquidator Great American Group boxing and selling broken gear

A couple, from Boston, bought a "television" for $1,100, but it turned out to be a box of shattered glass. They did not realize they were being sold this, because they were told not to open it until they got home. Investigators from a local news channel found that the store won't allow customers to check merchandise.

A spokesman for the liquidation group, Great American Group said, “We have signs posted indicating all sales are final,” and “Consumers are protected by the manufacturers warranty.”

But Samsung wouldn’t help Gina and Emilio, saying their TV was damaged, not defective, and not their concern.

“No one’s there to help us … we’re out $1,100,” Gina said.

Gina has appealed to her credit card company but so far Citizens Bank has not said whether it will help.

Under federal bankruptcy law, all sales are final even if you are not given what you paid for. On the other hand, this is exactly what chargebacks are for.

Customers Burned In Circuit City Closeout Sale

Not only is this going on but the 'closeout' percentages off are a lie - you can find the same items (undamaged, to boot) at other retailers not going out of business where their 'full' retail price is lower than Circuit City's 'liquidation' closeout discounted price.

Satisfaction

The Rolling Stones
(rare early film)

Bank of America quietly laying off employees

Trying to stay under the radar ... Sorry to tell you this, but t'ain't working McGee. We've got you in our sights ... BoA is firing more and more employees.

*****

Stepped-up layoffs appear to be under way at Charlotte's Bank of America.

Banking expert Tony Plath, who teaches at UNC-Charlotte, says he believes the bank is shedding 30 to 40 workers a week. He calls it trying to fly under the radar.

"What they are trying to do is avoid the headlines associated with the cuts," Plath said.

Wells Fargo, which acquired Wachovia, has said little about job cuts, but Bank of America announced in December that 35,000 jobs would be trimmed back. There has been no mass-layoff, but jobs have been disappearing almost weekly in each of the bank's divisions and they have spanned all levels from executives on down.

Mayor Pat McCrory, who met last week with Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis and Wells Fargo's John Stumpf in Washington, said he felt it was key to maintaining a close relationship now with both CEOs.

"Because I know how much the survival of the banks means to Charlotte and thousands and thousands of jobs," McCrory said.

Jobs that Plath believes could soon be lost.

"I'm afraid the trickle (of job losses) is turning into a little bit more of a stronger flow and this flow is going to turn into a fire hose before too many more weeks go by," Plath said.

McCrory, anticipating more job losses, says he is in touch almost weekly with bank officials.

"I am going to do everything I can to build a relationship with Bank of America and Wells Fargo to convince them that this is the place for the jobs," said McCrory.

Speaking of foods

Here are the:

Top Ten Foods of the 1980's
(as compiled by Serious Eats)

10. Jawbreakers

Like spicy food, these dangerous, choke-inducing spheres inspired serious candy egos. Can you handle it? No, seriously, can you? And they came in a slew of sizes, depending on your tolerance. "Oh snap, he has the mega-breaker!"

9. The California Raisins

When the dried-fruit world creates their own pop sensation, big things happen. Shriveled-up grapes can become Motown rock stars! Maybe prunes were never in the right place at the right time, but raisins definitely were.

8. Cool Ranch Doritos

Before the 100-cal-packified era, the most popular snack in the Circle K was a turquoise-flecked triangular chip. With actual fat!

7. Tri-Color Pasta Salad

Pasta salads were hot in the '80s, especially in elbow, wagon wheel, and squiggly shapes, and shades of peach, pistachio, and normal-off-white-noodle. Toss them with canned olives and powdered salad dressing, and you were the most popular person at the potluck.

6. Orange Julius

Why don't Orange Julius stands exist anymore? Due to a corporate merger, they can actually be found in select Dairy Queens, seven of these are hiding in Singapore.

5. Equal

The first aspartame pixie dust sold to consumers, Equal may keep your thighs right for bike-shorts, but we worry about what its evil toxins will do to the rest of you. Maybe consumers weren't aware of the health risks in the '80s, but even now, it's so easy to justify that one little blue package. Especially in baby blue. Baby blue would never hurt us.

4. Artificially Flavored Fruit Snacks

Did you have one of the cool moms who bought you Fruit by the Foot, Gushers, or Fruit Roll-Ups? Mine didn't (she opted for real fruit) and is still paying the therapist bills.

3. Tab Cola

Tab, are you really just Diet Coke hiding in a fuchsia can? Why do you creep up on weird corners of grocery aisles? Since this soda catered to "beautiful people," Tab ran commercials where the sleek can made waifish girls irresistible to hot guys.

2. Lean Cuisine

It was the dawn of a low-fat gastronomical revolution. Scientists realized they could create "healthy" chicken teriyaki meals from sodium phosphates, modified cornstarch, high-fructose corn syrup, and caramel color. Launched in 1981, the zappable Lean Cuisines started with ten options; they now offer more than 100.

1. Capri Sun

Straw-stabbing styles got very personal with Capri Sun -- at the pouch's belly (risking a waterfall effect), at the bottom (for tricky upside-down enjoyment), or at the designated spot (for purists). Just don't stab straight through to the other side. Flavors more or less tasted the same -- a fruity "tropical" punch, with or without added kiwi strawberry syrups. First trademarked in Germany in the '50s, the pouches later became huge at soccer games and school lunches.

The Top Foods People Love or Hate

Certain foods are as polarizing as hometown sports teams and politics.
The folks at Serious Eats, have put together a list of eleven love-or-hate foods.
Why, eleven, I don't know.
If you love them, be proud.
If you hate them, be proud, too.
They've even included a recipe highlighting each controversial flavor.

1. White Chocolate: The "chocolate" part trips people up. It's really just a sweet confection (no cocoa involved). Moving on from terminology, when good, it's creamy and vanilla-y, but like "normal" chocolate, when bad, it's just waxy calories.
Recipe for white chocolate bark with fresh mint, almonds, and dried berries

2. Cilantro: Soapy, rotten, or just plain vile are popular complaints from cilantro haters. Did you know Julia Child hated the leafy herb? But behavioral neuroscientists would argue that America's food darling had no control. It's all about genetics. Studies have linked liking cilantro to being able to detect the "pleasing" chemicals in the leaf.
Recipe for white beans and cilantro

3. Eggplant: For some, it's an old purple sponge and others, the soft-firm texture is what makes a veggie sandwich or an Italian pasta dish. Raw is never good, but fried, grilled, or roasted (always doused with gobs of olive oil), eggplant deserves another chance. Or, the vegetarian sponge will always make you nauseous -- and the roof of your mouth mysteriously itch.
Recipe for eggplant lamb lavash wrap

4. Coconut: The smell in shampoo and sunblock is one thing. But the sawdust-like shreds of real coconut can mean chewing and chewing forever until you eventually swallow the darn lump. Sprinkled on pies, cakes, and chicken, coconut either adds a mild tropical zing or a vile, never-ending chewing party. That's when it comes out that a lot of coconut haters don't even know about young fresh coconut which is as soft as a Hawaiian baby's bottom.
Recipe for coconut domes

5. Tomato: This one really comes down to texture. Slimy and gritty is never good for the tomato world. The cooked, soft version brings in a few fans. Others are only in it for the vine-picked version during their peak season in August (cut to romantic images of Italian countrysides). Others can only bear them on pizza or completely masked inside ketchup.
Recipe for marinated tomatoes with linguine

6. Anchovies: Cat food or human food? A small whiff can make you seasick or have you loading them on pizza and Caesar salads. Whether fresh or in flat metal cans, the salty little fish has some so obsessed, they'll eat the bones.
Recipe for roasted sardines with bread crumbs, garlic, and mint

7. Black licorice: Even the red licorice-tolerant may draw the line here. Black licorice gum, jelly beans, tea, Good n' Plentys, and Jägermeister—get it out. Along with any herb, like anise or fennel, that resembles the flavor. Out. Lovers say it's an acquired taste, but I think the little kids have it straight here. Not a real candy.
Recipe for baked fennel with prosciutto

8. Stinky cheeses: If this smell came from something else (a shoe or dog), I might take issue, but knowing it's from a dairy gob, growing moldy in a controlled environment, I'm fine with the pungent aroma. When others sniff Gorgonzola or Roquefort, they're convinced that feet or laundry were actually involved.
Recipe for tortellini with Gorgonzola cream sauce

9. Mayo: Whether Hellmann's or even Miracle Whip, does the creamy off-white slime strip the taste off food or magically make anything better? Haters have been told to try it homemade, but for many, this won't make a tuna or egg salad look any less scary.
Recipe for avocado mayonnaise

10. Bell Pepper: To some, all those colorful strips are a mouthful of crisp freshness. To others, they're the backseat driver of vegetables. On a pizza or in pasta, they're supposed to be one of many veggie passengers, but no. The bell pepper's always got to be the loud guy telling your taste buds where to go -- and green, he's the loudest. Green is actually unripened, picked from the vine before its more sweet (and edible) brethren.
Recipe for angel hair pasta with red pepper pesto and basil

11. Beets: Despite all my white T-shirts you have stained purple, I still love you, beets. People fear you from an early age, but roasted or pickled, you take on a whole new form. The other camp thinks that the beet smell is such a toss-up between ick and gross and that the beet taste is so much like a metallic vitamin that it's just not meant to be.
Recipe for roasted beet salad

Auction fetches record price for Matisse

A painting by Henri Matisse sold for $41.1 million, yesterday — a record auction price for a work by the artist — at an art sale from the estate of Yves Saint Laurent, the auction house Christie's said.

The sale came at the start of a three-day Paris auction of art from the collection of the late French fashion designer that some are calling "the sale of the century."

Read the rest here.

Market News

A couple of items in the Market News:

• Oil falls below $38, following stocks markets down
• Asia markets fall amid relentless financial fears

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Beijing, Beijing, China
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Essen, Nordrhein-Westfaln, Germany
Munich, Bayern, Germany
Leicester, England, United Kingdom
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
London, England, United Kingdom
Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedeluk Gewest, Belgium
Lille, Nord-Pas-De-Calais, France
Medan, Sumatera Utara, Indonesia
Oldham, England, United Kingdom
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Heerlen, Limburg, Netherlands
Linz, Oberosterreich, Austria
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

as well as Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro, Switzerland, Turkey, New Zealand, Norway

and

46 of the 50 states of the United States.

Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

You have a calmness about you that people love to feed off of. Share it generously.

I always do.

(Of course that calmness is a shock to those that are perpetually angry and accuse everyone else of their own foibles.)

Are elephants afraid of mice?

Mythbusters

Are elephants afraid of mice?
We finally get the answer to that question ... or do, we?!

Nudity, talc and twitching pigs?

It must be Glasgow's National Review of Live Art.

Read all about it here.

Now, who said we Scots are a dour bunch!?

Model banned from boxing due to breast implants

A former model who wanted to become the first woman boxer to represent Britain at the Olympics has been barred from the ring - because she has breast implants.

Sarah Blewden from Poole, Dorset, who runs a hair salon, said that the decision was 'ridiculous' Photo: BNPS

Sarah Blewden, 25, took up the sport two years ago to keep fit and hoped to enter competitive bouts after discovering she had a natural talent.

But the Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) turned down her application on the grounds that the breast enlargement she underwent in 2003 put her at greater health risk.

"International rules forbid anyone with breast implants continuing to box because of risk of damage to the breast tissue," said Tony Attwood, chairman of the ABAE.

Read the rest here.

*****

I dunno, if she wants to box, then let her. Depending on which type of implants she has it might be more harmfull to her opponents if they land a solid hit on a hard implant and shatter their fingers!

And I Quote

We are all here for a spell; get all the good laughs you can.

~ Will Rogers

Weasel Stop

Foghorn Leghorn from 1956

A meeting of Polar and Political minds

Policymakers met polar explorers at the Troll Research Station on the boundless ice of Antarctica Monday as a U.S.-Norwegian scientific expedition came in from the cold to report on the continent's ice sheets, a potential source for a catastrophic "big melt" from global warming.

"Our preliminary finding is that there's a slight warming trend in East Antarctica," American glaciologist Ted Scambos told the group of visiting environment ministers.

Read the rest here.

Real Time

Bill Maher's opening monologue from the first show of the new season.

Reality Check: Crunching the numbers

Found this over at BartCop:

See what happens when you list the facts?

In typical repugican fashion ...

Repugs Fighting For Money From Stimulus They Opposed

From the Huffington Post:

House Republicans, as a group, may take great pride in the goose egg they offered Obama's stimulus package.

But now the unanimous opposition is struggling to bring that money home.

Republicans will be working hard to make sure the money they opposed ends up benefiting their home districts, highlighting the political tightrope they walk in this economic crisis.

The DCCC is watching House Republicans -- and reading local media -- closely and will highlight any happy talk about a stimulus Republicans voted against.

Read the rest here.

Norwegian Wood

The Beatles
(rare home movies)

Suburban gold-selling parties

The LA Times' Tiffany Hsu reports on people who host Tupperware-style parties where cash strapped people bring their gold jewelry to a house and sell it to an assayer who rakes in a 35% take on the house.

The party Geivet attended at the Aliso Viejo home of Mary-Margaret Fincher is a twist on the old suburban Tupperware party. Here, however, it's the guests who do the selling.

Erin Stevenson, who organized the party through her group My Gold Party CA, appraised the jewelry with assistant Richard Bartoletti as guests debated whether to wear heels or flats during pregnancy.

To test the gold, Stevenson shaved off small flecks with a whirring Dremel tool, blanketing the dark wood of the dining table with a luminous sheen. Later, while Bartoletti peered through a magnifier attached to his eyeglasses, looking for karat stamps on the jewelry, Stevenson weeded out gold impostors with magnets and a special acidic gel.

Fincher, 34, said the parties were popular in her hometown of Atlanta. As the host she gets 10% of what is paid out -- which this night was $4,000. One woman walked away with a $1,836.88 check.

Stevenson pays about 65% of the market value, which works out to $5.56 for a gram of 8-karat gold, rising to $15.47 a gram for 22k. She then sells the gold to a refiner for a price just under the market trading price.

Gold fever sweeps suburbia

He says one thing and then does another ...

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has agreed to increase unemployment benefits in the state by $25 a week using part of the federal stimulus package.

Employment Security Commission Executive Director Ted Halley said Monday the Republican governor agreed to an extension of the benefits Friday. Halley says details of adding the cash to unemployment checks are being worked out.

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer confirmed the governor approved the increase.

Sanford has railed against bailouts but has never said he would refuse taking federal money. He says the stimulus will only drive the country deeper into debt.

But South Carolina has one of the nation's highest unemployment rates. Jobless claims have bankrupted the state's fund for unemployment benefits.

Dinosaur's Digestion Reveals Changing Climate

Proof that climate change is real and has happened before ...

Leonardo, a duck-billed vegetarian hadrosaur, evolved in a time of stress to planet Earth. Paleontologist Robert Bakker takes you on a journey through the guts of Leonardo, an exceptionally well-preserved dinosaur fossil.

Check out this video of Leonardo.

Environmental News

From New Scientist:

Ancient civilizations may have given us a carbon boost

Can we thank past civilizations for the way tropical rainforests are soaking up our carbon pollution? A new analysis of tree growth and death in 79 plots across tropical Africa finds that every hectare is soaking up an average 0.6 tonnes of carbon from the air per year.

The findings of the international study, reported by Simon Lewis of the University of Leeds, UK, mirror past discoveries of the huge carbon-absorbing ability of the Amazon rainforest. Together, they confirm estimates from atmospheric chemists that natural tropical forests absorb about a fifth of our carbon emissions.

The researchers followed the growth of some 250,000 trees over 40 years. After allowing for trees that died, they estimate that African tropical forests are absorbing a total of 340 million tonnes of carbon a year.

This huge "carbon sink" in the tropical rainforests roughly counterbalances releases from mankind's destruction of tropical rainforests by burning, logging and clearing. Though, as IPCC scientist Chris Field of Stanford University warned at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Chicago at the weekend (see our updates from the conference), they could soon be swamped by carbon releases from raging fires in the forests as a result of climate change.

But what caused the sink? Mature forests should be carbon-neutral in theory, releasing as much as they absorb. Helene Muller-Landau of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, suggests the forests could still be regrowing after partial destruction by past civilisations, such as pre-Columbian Amazon cities and ancient African iron-making societies. They are, she says, "far from being pristine wildernesses."

But Lewis thinks the similar results from both forests suggest a global influence - "probably the fertilising effect of the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere".

More Science News

In other science news today, we get all spacey on you:

Quark star may hold secret to early universe

Milky Way still reeling from ancient smash

Plasma experiment recreates 'burping' astrophysical jets

High-energy portrait of approaching comet released

First tracked space rock recovered after impact

*****

The Mother Ship is ready ...

Science News

From New Scientist:

Scans of fossils have cracked the mystery of pterosaur power. The biggest animals ever to fly drew their energy from bird-like lungs that they evolved 70 million years before the first birds took to the air.

Leathery-winged pterosaurs evolved 220 million years ago, from the same group of reptiles that gave rise to crocodiles, dinosaurs, and later birds. Yet how pterosaurs powered their flight had been a mystery because their ribcages were thought to be inflexible, making their breathing inefficient.

Leon Claessens of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, realised that view might be mistaken after pterosaur specialist Dave Unwin at the University of Leicester, UK, showed him a fossil Rhamphorhynchus with a beautifully preserved ribcage.

Computed tomography (CT) scans of this specimen – as well as other pterosaur fossils – revealed that the bones had been filled with air sacs that connected to lungs. It is likely that, as in living birds, flexing of the body caused the air sacs to push and pull fresh air through the lungs, allowing them to extract oxygen from the air more efficiently than mammalian lungs.

The air sacs bring an added bonus in that they reduce the weight of the bones. In both birds and pterosaurs, the volume of the air space inside the bones increases with the size of the animal. In the largest pterosaurs, whose wing spans could exceed 10 metres, even the outermost "finger" bones of the wings were hollow.

Intriguingly, the sacs connected with a pneumatic system under the skin, which pterosaurs might have been able to inflate to change the shape of their wings, Claessens says.

*****

Science is fun!

New Zealand's horrid copyright law suspended and may be dead

Street demonstrations, netwide campaigns, unfavorable press attention and sustained lobbying have moved the New Zealand government to temporarily suspend its new copyright law, which would have required ISPs to terminate their customers' net access on the basis of three unsubstantiated accusations of infringement.

It remains to be seen whether the law is truly dead, but this truly is an amazing development:

In a surprise announcement, prime minister John Key says the government will delay the implementation of the controversial Section 92a of the amended copyright law.

John Key delays copyright law

Nuclear duct-tape

When normal duct-tape won't cut it, you need nuclear duct-tape, whose "slate blue color makes it ideal for use in nuclear tape facilities and it is certified for low leachable halogens and sulfur. It also provides sunlight and UV resistance for up to one year without the backing deteriorating or delaminating. This product is especially ideal for applications in the shipbuilding, nuclear power plant and stainless steel industries." 3M Performance Plus 8979N Nuclear Grade 48-Millimeter-by-54.8-Meter Duct Tape, Slate Blue

The Death of Plasma

Jose Fermoso at the New York Times writes that Pioneer's killing-off of Kuro, its next-generation Plasma TV line, rings the technology's death knell.

It was a dramatic fall for a company that just one year ago had CES abuzz with its newest plasma TV, the so-called “Ultimate Black” Kuro. ... The Kuro’s tech was impressive because it reduced light emissions from black areas of the screen to such a degree that at its maximum brightness, the contrast ratio was “almost infinite.” The result was a plasma display with the most vibrant, colorful images yet.

But even at the hype’s peak, problems in the plasma industry were apparent.

If you bet on LCD surpassing Plasma hard and fast, you won.

Pioneer’s Kuro Killing: A Tipping Point in the Plasma Era

A must have ...

I survived the bush administration t-shirt, $16 from Print Liberation.

Normally I do not endorse any product but this is a must have for any intelligent person who survived the dark ages.

Our Readers

Some of our readers today have been in:

Coventry, England, United Kingdom
Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Trier, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
Dendermonde, Oost-Vraanderen, Belgium
Natanya, Hamerkaz, Israel
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Daily Horoscope

Today's horoscope says:

There is no reason to hurry or run around too quickly.

All right!

No luck for Santa in parking ticket fight

A New York City man who fought a parking ticket he got while dressed as Santa Claus and giving out toys says the city's response is more ho-hum than ho-ho.

Chip Cafiero says he learned Friday he'd lost his attempt to contest the $115 ticket he got in Brooklyn on November 28, 2008.

The 60-year-old retired schoolteacher had a sport utility vehicle double-parked near him while he handed out holiday bounty from a horse-drawn carriage.

The SUV was ticketed.

He told the Department of Finance the SUV was there to protect the carriage and children from traffic.

Cafiero says the city can take his money, but it won't take away his Christmas spirit.