Thursday, February 24, 2011
Woman humbles U.S. oil giant
A woman with no legal training is an unlikely hero in historic $9.5 billion case.
Also: Man attempts stealing chainsaw by stuffing it down front of shorts and waddling out of store
From the Einstein Files:
Police say a Chickasha, Okla., man tried to steal a chainsaw from a store by stuffing it in the front of his shorts.
Two employees saw that he was walking a little strange. At first, they thought he was handicapped but then realized what was going on.
"It was pretty obvious," said one employee. "Imagine it in the front of your pants." The employees tried to chase the man down.
He ditched the chainsaw and took off running, first up a tree, then into someone's house before he was eventually caught after diving into a creek. Police say he appeared to be intoxicated.
Prank call dupes Wisconsin governor
Further proof (as if any more was needed) that wingnuts are incredibly stupid and just look at the eyes - they say mentally ill ... in fact they're practically screaming it!
A candid chat with a "billionaire donor" turns into a PR nightmare as the tape goes viral.
Also: 
Dramatic look at income gap
Some new data crunches show how the gap between rich and poor has widened into a chasm.
Also: Common myths about baldness
Men commonly believe that hair loss is passed down from their mother's side.
Also: Best burger in America?
An L.A. chain has rethought the meat, bun, and toppings to create a new ideal.
Also: Beer to be classified as alcohol for first time in Russia
Beer is to be legally classified as an alcoholic drink in Russia for the first time as the Kremlin forges ahead with the toughest anti-alcohol campaign since the fall of the Soviet Union. The beverage is technically classified as a foodstuff for now, an anomaly that has allowed producers to avoid a sweeping new crackdown on alcohol advertising and night-time sales.
But a new Kremlin-backed bill that passed its first reading in the lower house of the Russian parliament on Tuesday will abolish beer's special status, dragging Russian alcohol regulation into the 21st century. "Normalizing the beer production market and classifying it as alcohol is totally the right thing to do and will boost the health of our population," Yevgeny Bryun, the ministry of health's chief specialist on alcohol and drug abuse, said.
"We have been talking about and have wanted such a measure for ages. I take my hat off to the parliament." The new law would restrict beer sales at night, ban its sale in or close to many public places such as schools, and limit cans and bottles to a maximum size of 0.33 liters. Although vodka, the national tipple, remains extremely popular, Russia's beer consumption has more than tripled in the past 15 years, boosted by low prices, ready availability and lax regulation.
Industry sources say Russia is now the third or the fourth biggest beer market in the world by net consumption after China and the United States. But with a historic penchant for strong spirits such as vodka, many ordinary Russians regard beer as a soft drink. It is not uncommon to see men swigging a can of beer on their way to work or teenagers downing a swift lunchtime beer or two in the park.
But a new Kremlin-backed bill that passed its first reading in the lower house of the Russian parliament on Tuesday will abolish beer's special status, dragging Russian alcohol regulation into the 21st century. "Normalizing the beer production market and classifying it as alcohol is totally the right thing to do and will boost the health of our population," Yevgeny Bryun, the ministry of health's chief specialist on alcohol and drug abuse, said.
"We have been talking about and have wanted such a measure for ages. I take my hat off to the parliament." The new law would restrict beer sales at night, ban its sale in or close to many public places such as schools, and limit cans and bottles to a maximum size of 0.33 liters. Although vodka, the national tipple, remains extremely popular, Russia's beer consumption has more than tripled in the past 15 years, boosted by low prices, ready availability and lax regulation.
Industry sources say Russia is now the third or the fourth biggest beer market in the world by net consumption after China and the United States. But with a historic penchant for strong spirits such as vodka, many ordinary Russians regard beer as a soft drink. It is not uncommon to see men swigging a can of beer on their way to work or teenagers downing a swift lunchtime beer or two in the park.
Big surfing contest wipes out ... no waves
An epic U.S. surfing contest that in the past featured athletes riding huge waves is washing out this year, due to a lack of big surf, organizers said.
Discovery blasts off on final voyage
The most traveled shuttle will be sent to a museum after its 39th mission.
Also: Cell phones alter brain activity
Researchers uncover definitive evidence that having a device "glued to your ear" affects your brain.
Also: The Drinking Bird
... a Scientific Toy for the Ages
The bird never stops, and since there’s no such thing as a perpetual motion machine, there must be some reasonable explanation for the bird’s persistence.
One can only wonder if the inventor of the dipping bird, Miles V Sullivan broke even from his invention. The idea began years before the patent and originally, as you might suspect, it had nothing to do with the bird. Sullivan was an inventor-scientist at Bell Labs but as a young man he enjoyed evenings out.Oh, you’ll get an explanation of how it works, and more, from Kuriositas.
It wasn’t the music or the lights but the bubbles in the tube at the sides of a juke box that grabbed his attention. He noticed that the energy wasn’t going anywhere and the inventor determined that something could be done with them. What he wanted to do was to harness motion- the idea of the bird came along later to make it more entertaining. Of course, while it is simply for fun it is the science behind it which makes it work.
Newly-Discovered Dinosaur Named "Thunder Thighs"
But the scientists mean it as a compliment, not an insult. The brontomerus had exceptionally large leg muscles:
It could have given other animals a hefty kick, say its discoverers.Suggestion: playfully address your wife and/or girlfriend as “thunder thighs”. Explain that you mean it in a good way, particularly that they give the ability to kick hard.
It seems most likely to us that what this is about is being able to deliver a strong kick”
“If predators came after it, it would have been able to boot them out of the way,” said Dr Mike Taylor, from University College London, UK.
The team has named its dinosaur Brontomerus mcintoshi – from the Greek “bronto”, meaning “thunder”; and “merós”, meaning “thigh”.
The fossilised bones of two specimens – an adult and a juvenile – have been dated to be about 110 million years old.
Self-Doubting Monkeys Know What They Don’t Know
Some monkeys have enough self-awareness to realize when they don’t know an answer, and will tell us if we make it worth their time. It appears that uncertainty is not an exclusively human trait.A team of researchers taught macaques how to maneuver a joystick to indicate whether the pixel density on a screen was sparse or dense. Given a pixel scenario, the monkeys would maneuver a joystick to a letter S (for sparse) or D (for dense). They were given a treat when they selected the correct answer, but when they were wrong, the game paused for a couple seconds. A third possible answer, though, allowed the monkeys to select a question mark, and thereby forgo the pause (and potentially get more treats).The same experiment with capuchin monkeys returned different results: they didn’t use the question mark button.
And as John David Smith, a researcher at SUNY Buffalo, and Michael Beran, a researcher at Georgia State University, announced at the AAAS meeting this weekend, the macaques selected the question mark just as humans do when they encounter a mind-stumping question. As Smith told the BBC, “Monkeys apparently appreciate when they are likely to make an error…. They seem to know when they don’t know.”
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
The Daily Drift
The Daily Drift
Today's horoscope says:Social plans may be starting to feel more like social obligations ... your role within your group is becoming more critical and you may begin to think of yourself as being responsible for other people's happiness.
So you are not to play host today -- try to inspire other people to take the lead and get things going.
It's time to take a break from being party director; step back and let someone else call the shots.
That's the only way you will be able to get exposed to new things right now.
Some of our readers today have been in:
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
London, England, United Kingdom
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Dusseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia
Leeds, England, United Kingdom
Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Doha, Ad Dawhah, Qatar
Jakarta, Jakarta Raya, Indonesia
Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom
Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Moscow, Moskva, Russia
Pakanbaru, Riau, Indonesia
Levis, Quebec, Canada
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Bern, Bern, Switzwerland
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
London, England, United Kingdom
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Dusseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Dungun, Terengganu, Malaysia
Leeds, England, United Kingdom
Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Doha, Ad Dawhah, Qatar
Jakarta, Jakarta Raya, Indonesia
Milton Keynes, England, United Kingdom
Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Moscow, Moskva, Russia
Pakanbaru, Riau, Indonesia
Levis, Quebec, Canada
Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
Paris, Ile-De-France, France
Bern, Bern, Switzwerland
as well as Slovakia, Malta, Bulgaria, Israel, Finland, Austria, Norway, Georgia, Mexico, Peru, Kuwait, Serbia, Bangladesh, Latvia, Greece, Scotland, Hong Kong, Denmark, Wales, Iran, Singapore, Poland, Taiwan, Sweden, Afghanistan, Belgium, Tibet, Croatia, Pakistan, Romania, Paraguay, Sudan, Vietnam, Argentina, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Estonia, Puerto Rico, Maldives, Qatar, Brazil, New Zealand, United Arab Emirates, Slovenia, China, Iraq, Ecuador, Nigeria, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Paupa New Guinea, Moldova, Venezuela, Germany, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, Czech Republic, Vietnam, Norway, Finland and in cities across the United States such as Barrington, Elmhurst, Durham, Walnut and more.
Today is:
Today is Wednesday, February 23, the 54th day of 2011.
There are 311 days left in the year.
Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:
Inconvenience Yourself Day
Don't forget to visit our sister blog!
Identifying the victims of a 100-year-old tragedy
The final unidentified victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire—a 1911 tragedy that had a huge impact on the creation of American labor laws and building codes—have finally been matched with names. What's really interesting to me: The fact that the bodies weren't identified with DNA, or any other modern science, but through simple detective work.
That's because the mystery was more about consolidating and organizing information that already existed, than it was about identifying the bodies themselves. Even before they died, the workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory were largely anonymous, except to the people who knew them personally. So, while official historians didn't know the names of all the dead, those names were always out there, buried in articles from small, neighborhood newspapers and passed down in family histories.
No New York City agencies and no newspapers at the time produced a complete list of the dead, Mr. Hirsch said. The most thorough list -- 140 names -- was compiled by Mr. Von Drehle when he wrote his book, and that was largely based on names plucked from accounts in four contemporary newspapers.
The obscurity of their names is evidence of the times, when lives were lived quietly and people were forced by economic and familial circumstances to swiftly move on from tragedies -- with no Facebook or reality television cameras to record their every step and thought.
Mr. Hirsch, 50, an amateur genealogist and historian who was hired as a co-producer of the coming HBO documentary "Triangle: Remembering the Fire," undertook an exhaustive search lasting more than four years. He returned to the microfilms of mainstream daily newspapers overlooked by researchers before him and to ethnic publications that he asked to have translated, like the Yiddish-language Jewish Daily Forward and Il Giornale Italiano. He estimates that he consulted 32 different newspapers.
He looked for articles about people who, in the weeks after the fire, claimed that their relatives were still missing. He then matched what he discovered with census records, death and burial certificates, marriage licenses, and reports kept by unions and charities about funeral and "relief" payments made to the families of the dead. Lastly, he sought out the descendants of three of the unidentified to confirm that the names he found were still mourned as Triangle victims.
New York Times: Unnamed Triangle Shirtwaist Company Victims Identified
And remember this tragedy was due to conditions that the repugicans seek to return to.
Majority of American public supports union in recent repugican attacks
It didn't take the Teabagging repugicans very long to overreach. The Koch Brother funded anti-union attacks are popular among the wingnuts but the American public is behind the unions.
USA Today:
USA Today:
Americans strongly oppose laws taking away the collective bargaining power of public employee unions, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. The poll found 61% would oppose a law in their state similar to such a proposal in Wisconsin, compared with 33% who would favor such a law.
Repugican Gov. Scott Walker and repugican legislators in Wisconsin have proposed cutting union rights for most state government workers and making them pay more for benefits. Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Iowa and other states with repugican governors are considering similar laws.
Thousands gathered in Madison for an eighth day to protest Walker's plan. Rallies were also held in Columbus, Ohio, Des Moines and Montpelier, Vt.
Threatening to Rape them for refusing to be Raped
Wisconsin Governor: Vote or I may lay off 1,500
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he might lay off 1,500 employees if his bill limiting public-employee union collective bargaining is not passed this week.Remember this folks - these are the perverts who stole their last election
Gadhafi is through
Half of Libya raises the pre-Gadhafi flag in triumph even as his forces unleash heavy gunfire in Tripoli.
Also: Eastern part of Libya falls as military refuses to kill citizens
NBC News is reporting that the eastern part of the country has fallen out of government control as the military and tribal leaders turn against Gaddafi.
Palestinian house inside cage in Jewish settlement
The al-Ghirayib family lives in one of the stranger manifestations of Israel's 43-year occupation of the West Bank: a Palestinian house inside a metal cage inside an Israeli settlement.The family's 10 members, four of them children, can only reach the house via a 40-yard passageway connecting them to the Arab village of Beit Ijza farther down a ...
Woman saves Houston cop during attack
Houston police said a female bystander helped save an officer by jumping on a suspect who had snatched a pistol from the lawman's holster.
Bad Cops
Maryland red light camera tickets were "signed and certified" by dead cop
Thanks for misplacing the drunk redneck who assaulted me, Seattle Police!
Judge orders NYPD to turn over internal reports on more than 800 cop-related shootings dating back to 1997
Kentucky jailer arrested after admitting to sex abuse
New York cop gets probation for official misconduct
Pennsylvania deputy allegedly befriended an elderly neighbor to enter her home and steal her prescription drugs
Roommates' fight over Thin Mints leads to arrest
Police say a brawl between roommates over Girl Scout cookies led to assault charges against one of them.
Business bans TSA agents
Now, if more would follow suit ...
KC McLawson works for a cafe near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and since the body-scan and patdown controversy last November, her boss has taken extraordinary measures to ensure the TSA knows of his displeasure. “We have posted signs on our doors basically saying that they aren’t allowed to come into our business,” she says. “We have the right to refuse service to anyone.”
Banning TSA from a restaurant. Seems a little harsh, doesn’t it?
McLawson explains.
KC McLawson works for a cafe near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and since the body-scan and patdown controversy last November, her boss has taken extraordinary measures to ensure the TSA knows of his displeasure. “We have posted signs on our doors basically saying that they aren’t allowed to come into our business,” she says. “We have the right to refuse service to anyone.”
Banning TSA from a restaurant. Seems a little harsh, doesn’t it?
McLawson explains.
My boss flies quite a bit and he has an amazing ability to remember faces. If he sees a TSA agent come in we turn our backs and completely ignore them, and tell them to leave.
Their kind aren’t welcomed in our establishment.
A large majority of our customers — over 90 percent — agree with our stance and stand by our decision.
We even have the police on our side and they have helped us escort TSA agents out of our cafe. Until TSA agents start treating us with the respect and dignity that we deserve, then things will change for them in the private sector.
The World's Smallest Computer
Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a solar-powered computer so small that it can be inserted into the human eye to help monitor glaucoma patients. Professor Dennis Sylvester explained:
In a package that’s just over 1 cubic millimeter, the system fits an ultra low-power microprocessor, a pressure sensor, memory, a thin-film battery, a solar cell and a wireless radio with an antenna that can transmit data to an external reader device that would be held near the eye.
“This is the first true millimeter-scale complete computing system,” Sylvester said.
“Our work is unique in the sense that we’re thinking about complete systems in which all the components are low-power and fit on the chip. We can collect data, store it and transmit it. The applications for systems of this size are endless.”
The processor in the eye pressure monitor is the third generation of the researchers’ Phoenix chip, which uses a unique power gating architecture and an extreme sleep mode to achieve ultra-low power consumption. The newest system wakes every 15 minutes to take measurements and consumes an average of 5.3 nanowatts. To keep the battery charged, it requires exposure to 10 hours of indoor light each day or 1.5 hours of sunlight. It can store up to a week’s worth of information.
Those 401(k) plans coming up short
Employees near retirement must make sacrifices due to a lack of savings.
Also: Tax secrets of accountants
CPAs use these strategies to boost their own write-offs for cars and donations.
Also: 
Ten Highly Unusual Allergies
Here are 10 of the most unusual allergies.
Oldest sprinter sets record
Ida Keeling, who started her athletic career at age 67, credits her success to an unusual regimen.
Also: 
People with bowel disease at higher risk of blood clot in lungs, legs
People with inflammatory bowel disease have double the risk of developing a potentially deadly blood clot in the legs or lungs as do people in the general public, a new study finds.Organic food 'is of little benefit'
There appear to be little or no nutritional or taste benefits to growing food organically as opposed to non-organically, a two-year study by consumer group Which? has suggested.
Dietary Fiber intake and mortality reduction?
However, a new study highlights the health-benefits of dietary fiber on reducing mortality itself.
Bad habits that add belly fat
Watching a lot of TV is linked to weaker abdominals, regardless of overall activity.
Also: Early ancestors 'endured back pain'
Our early ancestors suffered from debilitating back pain just as we do today, an archaeologist in Cambridge has discovered.
Weaker quake, deadlier punch
Depth and timing helped the New Zealand temblor do more damage than a stronger 2010 quake.
Also: Massive iceberg breaks away
Just minutes after New Zealand's violent quake, a sound "like a rifle shot" rang out from Tasman Glacier.
Also: The Temple Of Wat Rong Khun
Wat Rong Khun is a contemporary unconventional buddhist and Hindu temple in Chiang Rai, Thailand. It was designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat. Wat Rong Khun is different from any other temple in Thailand, as its assembly hall is designed in white color with some use of white glass.
Visitors will find it rather bizarre to find modern images throughout this temple. Images of the Predator from the Hollywood film, Spiderman, Batman, Keanu Reeves' character in the Matrix, rocket ships, etc. Nowadays, Wat Rong Khun is still being constructed.
Siberia's Lake Baikal Feeling the Heat
Three generations of Russian scientists have been keeping track of the world's largest and deepest lake and they're finding some surprising climate change connections. Snowballs spending a day at the beach
"It happens when there's a heavy snowfall and some wind at a time when the water is cold enough to freeze but due to motion it is prevented from doing so.From foamymilkyway, where there are additional photos of this phenomenon.
Conditions must be: Water temperature at zero deg. C., snow falling into the waves and combining together as the waves roll it along; think of it rolling a snowball on a liquid surface rather than a field, I'm sure you get the idea.
In Cape Breton this phenomenon is known by local fishermen as "a Lolly".
Dogs Probably Feel Sorry For Us
Dogs appear to empathize with us, to the point that some therapy dogs even seem to take on the emotions of their sick or distressed human charges.
Brazilian firefighters find alligator behind couch
Firefighters say they have removed a 5-foot-long alligator who was hiding behind a couch after floodwaters washed it into a home in northern Brazil.
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