It's The Economy Stupid

It's The Economy Stupid                                                         

How to prevent debit-card fraud

These safeguards help thwart identity thieves who can drain your account instantly.   

Easy way to detect fraud 

Also: 

• Where not to use debit
• How to fine-tune finances
• What is phishing?

15 essential money lessons for kids

Rule No. 1 can go a long way toward helping children avoid debt pitfalls later in life.

Guidelines on allowance, saving 

Also: 

• Getting kids to tidy up
• Controversial nanny claim
• Kids and credit cards

Day traders making improbable comeback

A new breed of do-it-yourself investors is trying to beat the economic slump.

Risky 'dream job' can pay six figures 

Also: 

• 10 lessons for investors
• Consumer spending climbs
• What is short selling?

Analyst: Stocks headed for 'new highs'

Some investors believe that the stock market is looking shaky, but one expert says they're wrong.  

3 big reasons 

Also: 

• Worries over stock market
• Buy-and-hold is dead?
• More on James Altucher

When not working beats working a little

A twist in the law makes it risky for the long-term unemployed to pick up temp or part-time work.  

Reason 

Also: 

• Explaining HR's silence
• Options after COBRA
• Your jobless benefits

IRS warns of crooked tax preparers

The agency cracks down on small firms and practitioners that fudge returns.  

But taxpayers held liable  

 Also:

• Tax-filing mistakes
• Does filing late help?
• Find tax forms

Careers with flexibility and good pay

These five jobs offer perks like schedules you can set yourself, along with high salaries.  

Up to $74K a year 

Also: 

• Great jobs with no degree
• Telecommuting tips
• Downsides of trade school

In Matters Of Health

In Matters Of Health

The Influence Game: Lobbying pays off as drug industry hits jackpot with health overhaul

Chalk one up for the pharmaceutical lobby. 

The U.S. drug industry fended off price curbs and other hefty restrictions in President Barack Obama's health care law even as it prepares for plenty of new business when an estimated 32 million uninsured Americans gain health coverage.

Full Story

Ohio AG won't sue over new federal health care law

Ohio's attorney general says he won't join other states in a lawsuit challenging the federal government's sweeping new health care law.

Health Law Timeline: Closing The Medicare Drug Gap

Now that the health overhaul has passed Congress, Democratic lawmakers are hoping to highlight its most immediate benefits.

Foods that can fix (almost) anything

The antioxidant found in grapes can act as a bodyguard for your skin.

What to eat for better breath 

Also:

• Unhealthiest mall food
• What to eat at bedtime
• Vitamin C sources

A third of world's kids are couch potatoes

American children aren't the only ones whiling away their hours in front of TVs and computers.  

Study: global problem 

Also: 

• Teen blogging good?
• Exercise tips for kids
• 3D movie prices skyrocket

Medical misinformation spreads on Web

Turning to social networks to analyze your symptoms requires caution, a study shows. 

How to protect yourself 

Also: 

• Misuse of antibiotics
• Vitamin D and the flu
• The genomics debate

Five weight-loss myths debunked

Misconceptions about carbohydrates and eating late at night could hinder your weight loss.  

Truth about weight-lifting 

Also: 

• Spring-fresh eating
• The whole grain truth
• Quick and healthy lunch

Insurance companies trying to ban kids with pre-existing conditions anyway, in violation of new law

We should have nailed these assholes to the wall last year from the git-go.

HHS is hitting back.

Update: Insurance industry caves on effort to cheat kids with pre-existing conditions

That was quick. 

But it goes to show you that we'll need to keep an eagle eye on the insurance companies, as this won't be the last time they try to find a loophole in the legislation. 

Obama signs law finalizing health care, loan redo

Finalizing two major pieces of his agenda, President Barack Obama on Tuesday sealed his health care overhaul and made the government the primary lender to students by cutting banks out of the process.

Full Story

Complaints of food fraud rise in the U.S.

Complaints of food fraud rise in the U.S.

The food industry says the FDA isn't doing enough to combat deception.

Mislabeled items  

Also:

• How to read food labels
• Food claims to scrutinize
• Gene can boost tomatoes

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Ancient 'door to afterlife' unearthed

The tomb of a powerful Egyptian official yields a 3,500-year-old relic covered in religious texts. 

Purpose of false door 

Also:

• Find: Karnak temple
• Mystery mummies in Calif.
• Smugglers' trade booming

$10 billion Big Bang machine smashes record

An ambitious bid to solve some of the biggest mysteries in science reaches a milestone.  

'Historic moment here' 

Also:

• Find: 'Big Bang machine'
• Genius may reject $1 mil
• New levitation study's goal

'Roadrunner' dinosaur discovered

One the smallest and most agile theropod dinosaurs yet discovered is unearthed by scientists in China.

Scans show that people who are better at having new ideas have brains that pass information around more slowly.

A slow mind may nurture more creative ideas

Computer-Controlled Swarm of Bacteria Builds Tiny Pyramid

Who needs nanobots when you can control a swarm of bacteria to do your bidding?

Researchers at the NanoRobotics Laboratory of the École Polytechnique de Montréal, in Canada, are putting swarms of bacteria to work, using them to perform micro-manipulations and even propel microrobots.
Led by Professor Sylvain Martel, the researchers want to use flagellated bacteria to carry drugs into tumors, act as sensing agents for detecting pathogens, and operate micro-factories that could perform pharmacological and genetic tests.
They also want to use the bacteria as micro-workers for building things. Things like a tiny step pyramid. [...]
The bacteria, of a type known as magnetotactic, contain structures called magnetosomes, which function as a compass. In the presence of a magnetic field, the magnetosomes induce a torque on the bacteria, making them swim according to the direction of the field. Place a magnetic field pointing right and the bacteria will move right. Switch the field to point left and the bacteria will follow suit.

 Computer-Controlled Swarm of Bacteria Builds Tiny Pyramid

Dubai Briton faces jail over 'middle finger salute'

A British expatriate in Dubai is facing jail and deportation after being accused of making a single-finger gesture in an argument. Simon Andrews, 56, has had his passport confiscated for almost eight months while waiting for his case to be heard.

He told Dubai Court of Misdemeanors he denies "flipping the finger" at Mahmoud Rasheed, an Iraqi aviation student, during an argument. He will appear in court on Sunday for a full hearing of the case.

Mr Andrews has said Mr Rasheed, who has not yet appeared in court to give evidence, is mistaken and no finger was raised. At a court hearing on Sunday, he asked for the passport put up as bail surety for him by a friend to be returned as the friend had to go abroad for work.

He was told to provide another passport in its place. His own passport has also been confiscated, preventing him leaving Dubai before the case is heard. Making insulting gestures is regarded as unacceptable, and carries with it the possibility of a jail sentence of up to six months and deportation.

Crime does not pay ...

Man fleeing police jumps fence - into prison

Police say a motorist fleeing officers in Cleveland abandoned his car and jumped a fence - landing in what turned out to be a prison yard.

Mass Grave Containing Rare Animals (Tigers, Lions, Leopards, etc) Discovered at Chinese Zoo

From Treehugger:

Photo: Wikipedia, CC

Not Again!

It was only a couple weeks ago that I wrote about a Chinese zoo accused of letting 11 rare siberian tigers starve to death. If that wasn't bad enough, a mass grave containing the remains of "more than 30 animals, including rare white tigers and lions" was discovered at a different Chinese zoo. The likely cause of death was, once again, malnutrition.

Article continues: Mass Grave Containing Rare Animals (Tigers, Lions, Leopards, etc) Discovered at Chinese Zoo

You Can't 'Patent' Genes

United States District Court Judge Robert W. Sweet has invalidated Myriad Genetics's infamous "breast cancer patent" -- a patent on genetic mutations that cause breast cancer, which Myriad has exercised in the form of a high lab-fee for analysis on samples (Myriad threatens to sue any independent lab that performs the analysis).
The suit was brought by the ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation, who argued that US Patent and Trademark Office was wrong to grant patents on genes, as these are not patentable subject matter. The judge agreed, saying that gene patents are patents on a "law of nature" and called the isolation of genes and filing patents on them "a lawyer's trick that circumvents the prohibition on the direct patenting of the DNA in our bodies but which, in practice, reaches the same result."
Which sounds to me like a precedent against all patents that rely on isolated genes. Of course, this isn't over: the pharma/biotech stalwarts interviewed in the linked NYT piece are talking appeal, and I'm sure they'll try to go all the way to the Supreme Court.
I think that the problem here is in the untested idea that imparting exclusive rights to the genome will incentivize more research than allowing anyone to build on discoveries in the genome. It's clear that some exclusive rights provide an incentive so some people to do work. But these exclusive rights also scare off people who have good ideas but are worried about being bankrupted by someone who beat them to the patent.
Combined with that is the natural abhorrence many of us feel at the thought that genes might be patented. Genes aren't a good subject for propertization. Your genes aren't even yours -- you didn't create them. Your parents didn't really create them, either. You're your genes' steward, as are we all, and so many of us have a strong intuition that when someone else claims to own something from our genome, they're being ridiculous, or evil, or both.

Myriad Genetics, the company that holds the patents with the University of Utah Research Foundation, asked the court to dismiss the case, claiming that the work of isolating the DNA from the body transforms it and makes it patentable. Such patents, it said, have been granted for decades; the Supreme Court upheld patents on living organisms in 1980. In fact, many in the patent field had predicted the courts would throw out the suit. Judge Sweet, however, ruled that the patents were "improperly granted" because they involved a "law of nature." He said that many critics of gene patents considered the idea that isolating a gene made it patentable "a 'lawyer's trick' that circumvents the prohibition on the direct patenting of the DNA in our bodies but which, in practice, reaches the same result."
The case could have far-reaching implications. About 20 percent of human genes have been patented, and multibillion-dollar industries have been built atop the intellectual property rights that the patents grant.

ACLU Challenges Patents On Breast Cancer Genes: BRCA Judge Invalidates Human Gene Patent

Interesting In General

Interesting In General

Seven simple dinners

Try serving a few new dishes out of these easy menus for every day of the week.

Get recipes 

Also:

• Healthier Mexican food
• Recipes for spring
• Last-minute dinner ideas

Men owe women for 'creating beer'

Full story

Between the eighth and tenth centuries AD the Vikings spread terror by rampaging through Europe, fueled by women-made ale.

Odds and Sods

Odds and Sods

In Cop News

New Jersey cops planted drugs on suspects; 185 prisoners released as officer pleads guilty

Tainted evidence at San Francisco police lab could quash upwards of 750 drug prosecutions

Lawsuit claims Illinois cops beat men at taco restaurant

Illinois deputy gets year in jail for one count of racketeering and four counts of mail fraud

Massachusetts police officer indicted in injury pay scam

California deputy accused of felony DUI had crashed half an hour earlier — and fellow deputies let him go

"I keep asking them ‘What did I do wrong?’ He keeps saying 'shut up'"

Washington cops Tazer pregnant woman three times when she refuses to sign parking ticket; Court says this is AOK

Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper pleads no contest in kicking case

FBI investigating alleged corruption in Colorado cops' drug task force

J. Edgar Fooled Ya

A woman who posed as an FBI agent and hired two individuals to be her assistants was indicted last week for impersonating an employee of the United States.

Police impersonators are nothing new, but this suspect brings new meaning to the phrase "con job." An Arlington , Va., woman allegedly impersonated an FBI agent , then fooled her neighbors into taking jobs as her assistant.

In the 1960s, a group of psychedelic-loving misfits from Orange County called the Brotherhood of Eternal Love figured it could turn the entire world on to the mystical power of LSD.
It seemed like a reasonable idea at the time — the brotherhood had been founded on a shared belief in LSD’s transformative effects. But somewhere along the line, the spiritual message was squashed by thousands of kilos of smuggled marijuana and hashish.
Advertisement
By decade’s end, the psychedelic messengers had sidetracked into a smuggling operation that made the group one of the largest drug cartels in America.
Instead of enlightenment, the members of the brotherhood wound up making their mark as narcotics trailblazers: They distributed Orange Sunshine, arguably the most popular “brand” of LSD in history; created the strain of pot known as Maui Wowie; and were the first to bring Afghan hash to the U.S.
For a while, they were America’s foremost counterculture outlaws, dubbed the “hippie mafia” by Rolling Stone. But the organization ultimately fell prey to greed, back-stabbing and legal heat. And when it was gone, it barely registered an acid flashback, even after biographers, documentarians and Madison Avenue began to strip mine the hippie era for material.
Yet in “Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World,” Nicholas Schou manages — amazingly — to penetrate four decades of silence.

Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and Its Quest to Spread Peace, Love, and Acid to the World

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
Relationships are your number one priority at the moment, and you're taking them very seriously.
So don't be surprised if a conversation that starts out casually turns quite confrontational almost as soon as it begins.
Expect fireworks, but know that the astrological inspiration for the mood you're in can also inspire delightful passion.
Given that choice, you'll know what to do.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Rio De Janeiro, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Seoul, Kyonggi-Do, Korea

Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

Port-Au-Prince, Ouest, Haiti

Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Buenous Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina

Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, India

Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Orange, Provence-Alpes-Cote D'Azur, France

London, England, United Kingdom

Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia

Heilbronn, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

as well as Scotland, Wales, and the United States in such cities as Hillsborough, Buffalo Grove, Lutz, Grinnell, Lake Orion, Rohnert Park, Poway and more

Today is Monday, March 29, the 88th day of 2010.

Today In History March 29, 2010

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
Texas Loves The Children Day

(after the recent Text book debacle - no they don't)

Caffeine System

As The World Turns

As The World Turns

Obama's demand in Afghanistan

The president slips unannounced into the war zone and presses the nation’s leader.  

U.S. impatience 

Also:

• Photos of the visit

Solo world sailor in treacherous waters

A 16-year-old enters a "mariners' graveyard" on her record quest to circle the globe.  

Controversy follows her 

Also:

• More on Abby Sunderland
• Shark attack no setback
• Surfing El Salvador

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees spend six months in a leaky boat

Around 240 asylum seekers will pass a sad milestone this week: six months in a leaky boat. It was late September or early October when the Tamils boarded the rickety Jaya Lestari 5 bound for Christmas Island and, they hoped at the time, new lives in Australia.

But then fate - and Kevin Rudd - intervened. Learning the boat was on the way, Mr Rudd phoned Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and asked him to stop it in Indonesian waters. The Indonesian Navy apprehended the boat and took it to the Javan port of Merak on October 11.

But the Sri Lankans - then numbering 254, including 31 children - refused to get off the boat, fearing they'd have to wait years for resettlement if their refugee claims were processed in Indonesia. They vowed to stay put until another country offered to take them in.

Indonesia promised the Tamils it would not force them off the boat. Besides, it didn't (and still doesn't) have anywhere to put them. So the stalemate began. And half a year later, there's no sign it will end anytime soon.

Conditions on the overcrowded boat are deplorable. The Tamils share a single toilet. Dozens have fallen ill, some seriously. One 29-year-old man died from a stomach illness in December.

A handful of the original 254 have left the boat voluntarily and at least two have been arrested after wandering away from the boat. Australia, meanwhile, has washed its hands of the problem, insisting it has no legal obligation to help the Tamils.

Colombia's FARC rebels release captive soldier

Colombian rebels handed over a 23-year-old soldier to the International Red Cross on Sunday in their first release of a captive in more than a year.

Full Story

Twin subway bombings rock Moscow

Two female suicide bombers strike 45 minutes apart as trains are packed with rush-hour commuters.  

Dozens killed 

Also:

• Obama on 'heinous' acts
• NYC beefs up security
• Moments after attack

The State Of The Nation

The State Of The Nation

Anger over Florida strawberry destruction

Farmers in the state face mounting criticism for hacking up their strawberry fields.

Why they're wasting crops 

Also:

• Growing strawberries
• Moths reveal a secret
• Tomato gene mutation

Shopping ban may get dropped

New Jersey is pressuring its largest county to repeal "blue laws" and open the malls on Sundays. 

Resistance 

Also:

• More on 'blue laws'
• 'Jersey Shore' ruling
• N.J. Transit fee hikes

Gun charges after FBI raids in Midwest

The FBI said Sunday that agents conducted weekend raids in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio and arrested at least three people, and a militia leader in Michigan said the target of at least one of the raids was a christian militia group. Of course it was ... they're ALL 'christian' militia groups!

Full Story

Local Hospitality

Local Hospitality

Violent storms do damage north of Charlotte

Almost 27 years ago, Charles Sparks disappeared after escaping from a Florida prison. Last week he was arrested in Wilmington using the name of a dead Danville, VA man.

Florida Fugitive Arrested In NC Blames Stupidity For Getting Caught

New Rule: You Can't Use There Will Be No Cooperation as a Threat When There Was Already No Cooperation

From Crooks and Liars:

      

Bill Maher's New Rules from Real  Time.

Let us be clear

Repugicans are trying to block real financial reform to abet Wall Street and the Big Banks

 

Paul Krugman explains how the repugicans are going to fight financial reform, despite what the financial services industry did to our nation's economy. They're going to lie about the legislation, which is, of course, a key component of any repugican strategy these days:

Back in January, Frank Luntz, the repugican strategist, circulated a memo on how to oppose financial reform. His key idea was that Republicans should claim that up is down — that reform legislation is a “big bank bailout bill,” rather than a set of restrictions on the banks.

Sure enough, a few days ago Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, in a letter attacking the Dodd bill, claimed that an essential part of reform — tougher oversight of large, systemically important financial companies — is actually a bailout, because “The market will view these firms as being ‘too big to fail’ and implicitly backed by the government.” Um, senator, the market already views those firms as having implicit government backing, because they do: whatever people like Mr. Shelby may say now, in any future crisis those firms will be rescued, whichever party is in power.

The only question is whether we’re going to regulate bankers so that they don’t abuse the privilege of government backing. And it’s that regulation — not future bailouts — that reform opponents are trying to block.

So it’s the punks versus the plutocrats — those who want to rein in runaway banks, and bankers who want the freedom to put the economy at risk, freedom enhanced by the knowledge that taxpayers will bail them out in a crisis. Whatever they say, the fact is that people like Mr. Shelby are on the side of the plutocrats; the American people should be on the side of the punks, who are trying to protect their interests.

Proving Krugman's point, a couple weeks ago, at a gathering of bankers, that same Mr. Shelby told those bankers how to defeat financial reform -- elect more repugicans, starting with Roy Blunt:

Asked what bankers could do to change the agenda, Shelby said, "What you can do is elect more repugicans to the U.S. Senate, that would help immensely." He asked each of the attendees to send $10,000 to Roy Blunt, a former House leader who is now running for Senate as a repugican in Missouri.

Couldn't be any more clear than that.

Lunatic Fringe

Lunatic Fringe 

The face of insanity

Typical Wingnut

Another one flying over the Coo Koo's Nest

William K. Wolfrum tells us angry bird craps on blogger’s car – so democrats can just shut up about “death threats” -

In an attempt to show that Democratic politicians aren’t the only ones dealing with threats and violence, wingnut blogger William K. Wolfrum today admitted that a bird crapped on his car, which he called an “obvious attempt to shut me up.”

“You know, democrats are whining and complaining about receiving death threats and whatnot, but really, I’m the victim here,” said Wolfrum, formerly a back-up singer with the band A-ha. “But do you hear me complaining about it? No, death threats and bird crappings are par for the course in today’s world.”

The incident, which happened last march after Wolfrum published a damning column titled “Birds, Fuck ‘em,” cannot be verified by authorities, but Wolfrum insists he was the victim of an attack, despite the fact that he wasn’t actually in the car at the time of the crapping.

They claimed to have video proving no one spit on the congressman but couldn't show it to anyone because it dosen't exist.

However ...

Video of black congressman being spat on by white teabagger

Teabaggers spitting on Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver. 

FAUX's Sean Handjob tried to pretend that it didn't happen. 

Huffington Post now has video. 

It's nauseating. 

And listen to the crowd - these people are fucking insane. 

But they're also typical repugicans. 

If you don't do exactly as they say, even when they massively lose an election, you're a socialist dictator who must be stopped. 

Listen to the crowd. 

You wouldn't know that they controlled Congress for 14 years, and controlled the White House for 8 years, just until 14 months ago. 

Now it's suddenly the end of world. 

Nothing but Drama Queens. 

And the world despises Drama Queens.

It's The Economy Stupid

It's The Economy Stupid                                                         

Just how good are your finances?

One of the best barometers for figuring out your financial health is also easy to calculate.  

More ways to know 

Also:

• Middle-class status signs
• How to ruin your credit
• Lazy ways to save

Costly job-hunt errors you can't afford

Today's economy has turned these common job-seeker flaws into deal breakers.

Should you hide your age? 

Also:

• Jobs that are growing
• Interview traps to avoid
• Job networking tips

Adding jobs in a bad economy

There's a growing demand for nurses, mechanics, and physical therapists. 

How to best position yourself 

Also:

• Go from temp to permanent
• Find a new job near you
• Industries on the rise

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Scientists unearth secret life of truffles

The black truffle of Perigord, the cynosure of every foodie's dreams, is about to yield its most intimate secrets to a team of French and Italian researchers who have decoded its genome.

From Treehugger:

 

Photo via Flickr

As anyone who has ever left an open can of soda out too long knows, some things are just better with a little fizz, and the world's oceans may be no exception. One physicist from Harvard University thinks that he's found a solution that may help curb the rate of global warming--and it comes in the form of tiny bubbles pumped into our planets water sources. Such microscopic bubbles, says the scientist, act as "mirrors made of air," reflecting sunlight from the water, generating a cooling effect that could be quite dramatic. Although computer models show the method would be effective, implementing it may be another story, so don't crack the champagne just yet--it may go flat before you see it happen. 

Scientist Says Blowing Bubbles Could Cool the Earth

 

Amphibious Hyposmocoma larvae on silk line underwater by Patrick Schmitz, Rubinoff Lab

Scientists at the University of Hawaii have discovered the first truly amphibious insect. Daniel Rubinoff and Patrick Schmitz observed larvae from the endemic moth genus Hyposmocoma surviving for weeks in fast moving streams across the Hawaiian archipelago - without coming up for air. Rubinoff and Schmitz say that at least 12 out of 400 species in the genus have the ability to live underwater or on dry land during the insect's larval stage.

We think that's pretty cool, but their research uncovered something else. 

Amphibious Hawaiian Caterpillar Proves Evolution is Cool

photo: Karunakar Rayker via flickr.

In the wake of this year's reassessment of the speed with which Himalayan glaciers are melting, and what year most of them might be gone, the Indian Space Research Organisation has released some new data showing that the region's glaciers have retreated 16% in the past 50 years.

Himalayan Glaciers Shrank 16% in Past 50 Years: Indian Space Research Org.

In Matters Of Health

In Matters Of Health

A different way to shape up for spring

A move called Swimming Dragon can help speed up metabolism and reduce appetite.  

Slow, deliberate exercises 

Also:

• Avoid burning out
• Foods for each decade
• Tai chi exercises

Too much fatty food raises the threshold for feelings of satisfaction, just like addictive drugs, sparking a cycle of compulsive overeating.

Junk-fed rats have 'drug addict' brains

Errol Flynn's son 'remains found'

Forensic tests are to be carried out on what two searchers believe are the remains of photographer Sean Flynn, son of Hollywood star Errol Flynn, who disappeared during the Cambodian War 40 years ago, the US Embassy has said.

Full Story

Man sentenced to six years for cooking dog in oven

Should have been death and by the same method!

A Wisconsin man will spend six years in prison for killing his former girlfriend's five-month-old puppy, Hulk, by cooking it in an oven. Terry Kleiman was found guilty in February on two felony counts.

They both worked at the Oval Office Gentlemen's Club and one night Kleiman decided to sneak away early.



He broke into former girlfriend Alex Rouse's apartment and decided to get back at her the best way he knew: by cooking her 5-month-old Pekingese poodle in the oven.

When she arrived home that night, she found her house filled with smoke and the dog dead in the oven.

11-year-old girl arrested for throwing toy gun at dad

A father tried to give his 11-year-old daughter a time-out, but she ended up getting charged with a misdemeanor.

At around 9:30 p.m. on March 24, the girl and her 7-year-old brother got into a fight over who got to sit in a certain chair, according to an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office arrest report. The father ended up escorting the girl to her room.

The man stood in the hallway watching her, making sure she wouldn’t try to run away out her bedroom window, the report said. The girl grabbed a toy gun and threw it, striking her father in the head and causing him to bleed from a laceration on his scalp.

The girl was charged with domestic battery and is due in juvenile court May 5.

Interesting In General

Interesting In General

Do's and don'ts of loading a dishwasher

Putting large items in the wrong spot can block both the water and detergent.

Improve cleaning, avoid dish damage 

Also:

• Energy Star appliances
• Germs lurking at home
• Removing wax from glass

Vacation getaways of the ultrarich

See where billionaires like Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates go to relax.  

Exclusive and secluded spots 

Also:

• Extraordinary islands
• Best budget beaches
• World's richest people

Dog saves owner from certain death twice

The heartening tale of Lakota the Akita, who saved sixty-year-old Carol Drymon from a fast-flowing river and then led her to safety.

As for Lakota, instead of hamburger, he gets steak every day now. "He is my hero. He saved me twice that day, and he deserves the best", says Carol.

Full Story