Welcome to ...

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


Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Scientific Minds Want To Know

Scientific Minds Want To Know
Blobs of magma rippling beneath the Earth's surface have a dramatic effect on land. 
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Pterosaurs (SPL)
Several prehistoric creatures developed elaborate body traits in order to attract members of the opposite sex, a study says.

Finless porpoises, a rare type of toothed whale living in China, may be even more endangered than previously thought.
THE BIG PICTURE Click to reveal

Cause of mysterious low-pitched hum

If you think the vuvuzelas at the World Cup are annoying, some people hear a constant drone all the time.
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The Mystery of the Skeleton Lake

The glacial lake of Roop kund, Himalayas.
The glacial lake of Roop kund, Himalayas.
Tucked into the remote corners of the Himalayas at an altitude of 5,029 meters (16500 feet) ASL in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, Roopkund holds a mystery that has intrigued generations of myth busters. Better known as ‘The Skeleton Lake’ ever since a park ranger came across a mass grave containing around 300-600 skeletons. Following this awesome discovery of 1942, the skeleton abode of Roopkund has generated a phenomenal sensation.

Norwegian Wood

 
The Beatles (very rare footage from 1966)

On The Job

On The Job
Many young job-hunters have what recruiters want, but their resumés and cover letters don't show it.  
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Big employers and affordable living make Houston a great place for recent grads to launch a career.
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New way to avoid those long waits on hold

A free service calls you back when a customer service agent finally picks up.  
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All about rewards

With a healthy score, you can save a bundle on rent, car insurance, and credit cards.  
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Learn which cards deserve a place in your wallet and which benefit the credit card companies. 
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It's The Economy Stupid

It's The Economy Stupid
There are worrisome signals that the recovery is sputtering and the recession lingers on.
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Things you should never buy new

Many goods still have plenty of life left in them even years after their original purchase.  
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Culinary DeLites

Culinary DeLites
Try this Asian-inspired dish for a quick and delicious vegetarian meal.
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Raw chicken is good refrigerated for two days while beef is good for up to five.
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Double-sized salmon may be the first gene-engineered animal that people would eat.  
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It's easy to make healthy, delicious meals this summer without heating up the kitchen.  
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Airline food under fire

When hasn't it been?
Meals for many passengers are being prepared in unsanitary conditions, a report finds. 
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Silly Putty ingredient found in McNuggets

A recent CNN investigation found that the same chemicals found in Silly Putty can be found in McNuggets:
mcnuggy.pngAmerican McNuggets (190 calories, 12 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat for 4 pieces) contain the chemical preservative tBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone, a petroleum-based product. They also contain dimethylpolysiloxane, "an anti-foaming agent" also used in Silly Putty.

 Funny thing is that you won't find the chemical in McNuggets sold in England - Why is that?

Broom Hilda

Broom Hilda

Woman had 14-year-old son drive car because she was too drunk to drive

A 37-year-old woman was accused of putting her 14-year-old behind the wheel because she was too drunk to drive.

Inside a high-end doomsday shelter

Designed like a luxury cruise ship, this secret bunker will offer a hospital and a movie theater.  
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Mexican singer Sergio Vega 'El Shaka' murdered hours after denying death

A Mexican singer - famous for his songs about the lives of drug barons - has been shot dead just hours after he denied reports of his murder. Sergio Vega, known as 'El Shaka', was shot in his red Cadillac while driving through Sinaloa state on his way to perform in a concert. The 40-year-old singer recently told a website he had increased security measures after a number of Mexican Grupero - country music - singers were killed.

The Mexican media has reported that unidentified men, traveling in a truck behind El Shaka's Cadillac, shot at the car. When Vega lost control of the vehicle and crashed, the gunmen then "finished Mr Vega off" by shooting him in the chest and head, according to his passenger. Just hours before the shooting, Mr Vega spoke to La Oreja website to deny rumors he had been murdered.


"It's happened to me for years now, someone tells a radio station or a newspaper I've been killed, or suffered an accident," Mr Vega said. "And then I have to call my dear mum, who has heart trouble, to reassure her." Musicians who sing narcocorridos, music which celebrates life as part of the drug industry, are often in danger as they risk being killed by rival gangs.

Several have been killed over the last three years, with Sergio Gomez, the singer of popular Grupero band K-Paz De La Sierra, kidnapped after a concert in 2007 and later found strangled. In a country where the drug trafficking generates around $50bn a year, cultural associations with the industry are common. Mexico even has an unofficial patron saint of drug dealers, a man called Jesus Malverde, who was killed by police in 1909 for reportedly robbing the rich to give to the poor.

Pellet pistol robber scared off by shop worker's real gun

A pistol packing Pizza Pipeline employee discouraged a would-be thief from robbing his store on Wednesday night. Spokane Police say the suspect entered the Pizza Pipeline at 1724 W. Wellesley armed with a pellet gun and wearing a green mask.

What the burglar didn't know is that one of the employees behind the counter happens to have a concealed pistol licence and was carrying his gun during this particular shift.

When the suspect showed his pellet gun and demanded money, the employee pulled out his pistol and told the suspect to drop his weapon. Police say the startled suspect bolted out the door at the sight of the armed employee. Police found parts of the suspect's busted pellet gun in the store's parking lot.

Responding officers set up a perimeter around the store and brought in a K-9 in an attempt to catch the suspect, but the search produced no results.

Odd Pictures

http://www.bartcop.com/caddy-yacht.jpg
Yep, just about seen it all now.

London cops enforce imaginary law against brave, principled teenaged photographer

Two police officers stopped a teen-aged freelance photographer from taking pictures of police cadets marching in an Armed Forces Day in London. The officers claimed (incorrectly) that it was against the law to photograph minors without parental consent. Then they pushed him down a set of stairs and detained him. The photographer recorded the incident, including the officers claiming that they didn't need any law to detain him.

Jules Mattsson, the 16-year-old photographer, is very, very good in this recording. He knows his rights, he admirably keeps his cool as two lawless goons with badges harass him and detain him. Kids like this give me hope for the future of the human race. On the other hand, cops who invent imaginary laws and demand that the public abide by them -- after the Association of Police Chiefs has made it abundantly clear that the police must not harass amateur and professional photographers.
"I was quickly and aggressively stopped by one of their adult officers asking me who I worked for," he wrote on his blog. "I responded that I was a freelance and upon being told I needed parental permission to photograph them, I explained this was a public event in a public place and that I didn't for editorial use."
The audio recording begins minutes later with an officer initially arguing that it is illegal to take photographs of children. He then claims that it is illegal to take images of army members and police officers.
Under laws that guarantee the freedom of press in Britain, there is no restriction on photography of children, police or armed forces in a public space. There is new legislation to protect the identities of some police officers but only those working undercover or in instances where an officer genuinely believes a photographer is collecting data for terrorist purposes.

Bad Cops

Bad Cops





And I Quote

Truth is incontrovertible, ignorance can deride it, panic may resent it, malice may destroy it, but there it is.

~ Winston Churchill

Good Question

http://www.bartcop.com/tb-ignorant-angry.jpg

Lunatic Fringe

Lunatic Fringe
When dealing with wingnuts ... Remember the rule: 
If they accuse someone of something, then they're already guilty of it.
Liars and Fools

Faux's Glenn Beck lies: race relations went astray "in the lead up to the Civil War," "before then we were moving on the right track".
Nurse, where's that Thorazine! This deranged imbecile is into full onset dementia!

Steve King (reptile-Iowa) sarcastically asks about the president's birth certificate on the floor of the House.
Small willfully ignorant minds are not a desirable trait - they go against Nature.

Faux's Glenn Beck defends McCarthy's legacy with show devoted to red-baiting.
Nurse! That Thorazine! NOW! STAT!

Pamela Geller, blogger with Tea Party ties, salivates over coming civil war in America.
Another card carrying member of the stupid bitch club.

http://www.bartcop.com/20th-hijacker-monkey.jpg

Religo-nuts Vanadlize Billboard

Vandals spray-paint two new words on an atheist group's sign quoting the original Pledge of Allegiance. 
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China to drop production of chopsticks in environment bid

http://www.recipetips.com/images/glossary/c/chopsticks_seasoned.jpg
China plans to curb the production of its traditional eating utensils, chopsticks, in a bid to protect the environment, the country's Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday.

Milk - It Does Your Lawn Good

If you want thick and beautiful lawn, don’t reach for the fertilizer – go to the fridge and get some milk instead!
David Wetzel, a former steel executive, told a conference of farmers in Linn that when he started a second career as a dairy farmer in 2002, he doused parts of his 320-acre farm with skim milk, which was a byproduct of his farm’s specialty butters and cheeses.
He soon discovered that his cattle preferred those fields. He called in an expert to figure out what was going on, and the result was a bit staggering: His milk-fed land yielded 1,100 more pounds of grass per acre than untreated land. [...]
Wetzel said he began making butters and cheeses that required only the fats from the milk that his cows produced, which left behind large quantities of skim milk as a waste product. To dispose of it, he would drive up and down a portion of his pasture with milk pouring out of a tank. He dumped up to 600 gallons of skim milk on the field every other day.
"I came from a background that has nothing to do with farming," Wetzel said. "So I don’t know the do’s and don’ts. I don’t have any relatives that would say, ‘You can’t do that.’ So I just kind of did what felt right."
One day, he noticed that his cows favored that patch of field. The grass felt more supple and looked healthier and more dense in that area.

Move over fruit, meat-flavored vokdas moving in

http://media.2news.tv/images/100628_salmon_vodka.jpg
Prepare your palate for carnivorous cocktails.

The Alaska Distillery in Wasilla just recently launched its Smoked Salmon Flavored Vodka, about a year after the Seattle-based Black Rock Spirits introduced a bacon-flavored vodka.

Also: Bacon ice cream with a hint of maple - Weird. But in a good way.

Ziggy

Ziggy

Scam stole millions, pennies at a time

A credit card scam defrauded consumers by charging very small amounts.  
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Suspected secret agents arrested in U.S.

The 10 alleged Russian spies are thought to have been on "deep cover" assignments for years.  
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Woman Says IRS Agent Tried to Strip Her

A woman claim an IRS agent actually tried to take the shirt off her back. She claims IRS agent Ricardo Rio drove her to a Starbucks to discuss "an alleged discrepancy in her tax return," and that as they entered a stairwell in the parking garage, "Rios pinned plaintiff against the wall and tried to rip plaintiff's clothes off."

Parvinder Kaur seeks damages from Rios and the IRS. She is represented in Federal Court by Paul Nathan of San Francisco.

In Matters Of Health

In Matters Of Health
Chemo can age the body up to 10 years, but working out can fight the effects.  
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It’s getting increasingly common to hear studies advise one thing, and then later recommend the opposite.  
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The girl who must eat every 15 minutes to stay alive

Lizzie Velasquez weighs just four stone and has almost zero per cent body fat but she is not anorexic. In fact, the 21-year-old from Austin, Texas, must eat every 15 minutes to stay healthy. Miss Velasquez has a rare condition which prevents her from gaining weight even though she eats up to 60 small meals a day.

Despite consuming between 5,000 and 8,000 calories daily, the communications student, has never tipped over 4st 3lbs. "I weigh myself regularly and if I gain even one pound I get really excited," said 5ft 2 ins Miss Velasquez, who wears size triple zero clothes. "I eat every 15-20 minutes to keep my energy levels up.


"I eat small portions of crisps, sweets, chocolate, pizza, chicken, cake, doughnuts, ice cream, noodles and pop tarts all day long, so I get pretty upset when people accuse me of being anorexic." She was born four weeks prematurely weighing just 2lb 10oz. Doctors found there was minimal amniotic fluid protecting her in the womb. "They told us they had no idea how she could have survived," said Miss Velasquez's mother Rita, 45, a church secretary.

Doctors speculated Lizzie might have the genetic disorder De Barsy syndrome but soon ruled it out as it became clear she did not have learning difficulties. "They kept on trying to figure out what was wrong with her but we treated her like any other child," said Mrs Velasquez, who charted her daughter's health in dozens of notebooks. She was taken to see genetic experts but they still could not diagnose her.


Miss Velasquez's case has fascinated doctors all over the world and she is part of a genetic study run by Professor Abhimanyu Garg, MD, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Professor Garg and his team now believe Lizzie may have a form of Neonatal Progeroid Syndrome (NPS) which causes accelerated ageing, fat loss from the face and body, and tissue degeneration. People with PRS often have triangular and prematurely aged faces with a pointy nose.

He said: "I am aware of a small number of people that have similar conditions to Lizzie but each case is slightly different. We cannot predict what will happen to Lizzie in the future as the medical community are yet to document older people with NPS. However Lizzie is lucky to have healthy teeth, organs and bones so the outlook is good. We will continue to study her case and learn from her."

Woman on oxygen dies after power cut by utility company

This reminds me of the horrible incident when an elderly man in Michigan died over the winter when his power (and heating) system was shut down.
What is the matter with a system that can't help someone like this?
A woman who needed powered oxygen equipment to breathe died after she did not pay the power bill and a utility shut off her electricity, police said Friday. State officials were investigating whether any regulations were broken.

Kay Phaneuf, 53, died Thursday at Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen, Mass. She had been in critical condition since her husband found her unconscious Monday about an hour after power was cut to their home in Salem.

"She can't survive without it," Salem Police Capt. Shawn Patten said of the oxygen equipment. "They cut the power to the house, the power to whatever machine she had went out, and that was it."

B.C.

B.C.

Rare white elephant captured

White elephants have been revered for centuries
http://sharing.kxan.com/sharewlin//photo/2010/06/29/Myanmar-White-Elephan_Gree_20100629052108_320_240.JPG
In this image made off MRTV video footage, a rare white elephant is caught in the jungles in Maungdaw township in northwestern Rakhine state, Burma.

 A rare white elephant has been captured in the jungles of northwestern Burma, a mostly Buddhist country where the animals are considered good omens, state media reported Tuesday.

Great white shark spotted off Massachusetts coast

State officials and shark experts say beach-goers don't need to worry after the summer's first confirmed great white shark sighting in Massachusetts waters.

Monday, June 28, 2010

The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:
Infuse your home with some new, stylish additions.
Even if you aren't a big believer in feng shui, there are some principles that anyone can follow and make sense of.
For example, a clean, pleasant and orderly space is generally more pleasant to come home to, and makes getting ready in the morning much easier.
Even a quick paint job or mail stand can make a major difference.
Some of our readers today have been in:
Jakarta, Jakarta Raya, Indonesia
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais Brazil
Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
Bad Homburg, Hessen, Germany
Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Coffs Harbor, New South Wales, Australia
Lille, Nord-Pas-De-Calais, France
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
London, England, United Kingdom

as well as Scotland, Spain, and the United States in such cities as Silver Spring, Curryville, Nantucket, Vashon and more

Today is Monday, June 28, the 177th day of 2010.
There are 186 days left in the year.

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
There is none.

As The World Turns

As The World Turns
They've voted before - but never freely, and never fairly. On Sunday, junta-ruled Guinea cast ballots for a new president in the first democratic election this West African nation has ever known.
Guinea on Sunday held its first free election since independence more than half a century ago, a vote many hope will finally end decades of harsh military rule and launch a new democratic era.

World Cup Soccer

Manuel Neuer's quick thinking leads to one of the most controversial moments in this World Cup.  
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These World Cup officials maintain near-perfect harmony as they prepare for a big game. 
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Gabriel Heinze inadvertently slams his head into a camera after Argentina scores a goal.
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Landon Donovan's next move

Landon Donovan is being targeted by one of the world's richest soccer teams, sources say.
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Non Sequitur

Non Sequitur

An offer you cannot refuse

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/185/410391493_438a0b40b3.jpg 
The Pigeon Mafia has been looking for you

Robert Byrd dies at 92

The West Virginia Democrat set the record as the longest-serving senator in U.S. history.
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Best swimming holes in America

Beat the summer heat at spots like Redfish Lake, Peekamoose Blue Hole, and Sliding Rock. 
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Alex head into the Gulf

From the "This could be nasty" Department:
Tropical Storm Alex moved into the Gulf of Mexico Sunday after weakening to a depression as it swirled across Belize and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, dumping rains that left at least four people dead across the region.