Court News

Authorities find investigator's body near Charlotte, N.C.

Authorities searching a wooded area on Tuesday found the body of a North Carolina insurance investigator who prosecutors believe was killed by the owner of an agency she was auditing.

Police had been looking for 44-year-old Sallie Rohrbach since she was reported missing Friday. Michael Howell, 40, has been charged with first-degree murder in her death.

Charlotte Police and Chrissy Pearson, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Insurance, confirmed the body's identity.

"We are devastated that all hope is lost, but we also find a sense of closure in knowing that we can lay to rest our dear friend and colleague with the dignity and respect she deserves," Pearson said.

Her body was found near Fort Mill, S.C., about 25 miles away from Howell's Dilworth Insurance Agency in Charlotte.

Rohrbach traveled nearly 170 miles from Raleigh last week and planned to spend several days auditing the agency. When family and co-workers didn't hear from her by late last week, they called police.

Authorities said Rohrbach's slaying was connected to her duties as an auditor, and that evidence was found in both her car and Howell's vehicle. They have released little other information, including a suspected cause of death.

Earlier Tuesday, Howell made an initial court appearance, where a judge denied his request for a public defender.

Public defender Susan Weigand appeared with Howell and argued he cannot afford to pay for two attorneys, as he would be entitled as a defendant in a capital murder case.

The request was denied. District Court Judge Bill Constangy - citing Howell's $6,000 monthly income and $7,200 in expenses - ruled he has enough income to pay for his own defense.

Gas Prices

And to think some idiots are still clamoring for four mores year of this!

Angel Oak

Angel Oak

Angel Oak is a Southern live oak tree located in Angel Oak Park, in Charleston, South Carolina, on Johns Island, one of South Carolina's Sea Islands. It is estimated to be over 1500 years old, standing 65 feet tall, 9 feet in diameter, and the crown covers an area of 17,000 square feet. Its longest limb is 89 feet in length.

The Angel Oak is thought to be one of the oldest living things east of the Mississippi River. Acorns from the Angel Oak have grown to produce authentic direct-offspring trees. Its limbs, the size of tree trunks themselves, are so large and heavy that some of them rest on the ground (some even drop underground for a few feet and then come back up), a feature common to only the very oldest live oaks.

It has survived countless hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and human interference. Angel Oak was damaged severely during Hurricane Hugo but has since recovered.

In the spring and summer there are numerous artistic events, including the "Evening Under the Angel Oak" series, which feature music, dramatic presentations, and various other activities, especially during the Spoleto Festival in May/June

Calling'em On Their Nonsense

Man's rare ability may unlock secret of memory

Give Brad Williams a date, and he can usually tell you not only what he was doing but what world events happened that day. He can do this for almost every day of his life.

Williams is one of only three people in the world identified with this off-the-charts autobiographical memory, according to researchers at the University of California-Irvine who gave the condition its name: hyperthymestic syndrome, from the Greek words for excessive (hyper) and remembering (thymesis).

Unlike most people whose memories fade with time, much of Williams' life is etched indelibly in his mind.

"It's just there," said Williams, 51, who reports the news for a family of radio stations in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

The California researchers are studying Williams and the two others with hyperthymestic syndrome, a man in Ohio and woman in California, hoping to gain new insights into how a superior memory works.

The goal of the study is to find a way to help people with failing memory.

Williams didn't realize how exceptional his memory was until his brother Eric told him about an article published two years ago in the journal Neurocase, describing a woman referred to by the initials, A.J.

"My brother in California saw this and said, 'She sounds like you. Why don't we talk to the folks at Irvine?'" Williams said.

At Irvine, researchers quizzed Williams, as they have the two other hyperthymestics, about a series of dates, asking for the corresponding event, and vice-versa.

"The speed with which they do this is part of why I find this so amazing because it seems to indicate there's no -- or not much -- intentional calculation going on. It's boom, boom, boom, there's the answer," said Larry Cahill, a fellow at the university's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. "Remember, these are questions they had no idea what we're going to ask them."

Now researchers are using an MRI to create three-dimensional pictures of the hyperthymestic brain. They want to see whether any brain structures differ in size, compared with the average brain.

Cahill and his colleagues are still going over the results but it appears some structures in the prefrontal cortex are substantially larger in hyperthymestics. The prefrontal cortex sits at the front of the brain and has been associated with complex thinking, not learning or memory.

Cahill said he hoped others with this extraordinary ability will come forward.

"I hope that we can identify as many of these people as possible because the more we identify and the more we study the greater the likelihood that we are going to really figure out fundamental new things about brains and memory that we would have never figured out without them," Cahill said.

Flipping through a family photo album with him it was astonishing how much Williams recalled, going back decades.

Asked about one black and white picture taken in the Badlands of South Dakota, he remembered exactly when it was taken: Tuesday, July 28, 1964, the same day as a trip to Mount Rushmore. He also remembered that the temperature reached 100 degrees and that they tried to keep Funny Face drinks cool in a Thermos in the back of the car.

Cahill said Williams and the other hyperthymestics don't do any better than average on standard memory tests, nor are they savants, a condition where one extraordinary mental ability is accompanied by deficits in other areas.

In this age of instant information, what can you do with phenomenal recall?

"I don't really know. I've thought about it for years," said Williams, the 1969 Wisconsin Spelling Bee champion. Williams appeared on "Jeopardy!" but finished second.

For now, Williams said he is content knowing research into his memory might help others. "That would be the ultimate goal."

Even now this is more

U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK

The Outstanding Public Debt as of 15 May 2008 at 04:01:25 PM GMT is:

The estimated population of the United States is 303,993,809
so each citizen's share of this debt is $30,834.60. The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$1.59 billion per day since September 28, 2007!
Concerned? Then tell Congress and the White House!

If

If you can keep your head when all about
you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself
when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you
can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in
lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too
good, nor talk too wise:
,

If you can dream - and not make dreams your
master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can
meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the
same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves
to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to,
broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:


If you can make one heap of all your
winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and
start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your
loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn
long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in
you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"


If you can talk with crowds and keep your
virtue,
Or walk with kings
and run with the poorest of the poor,
then you can be as I
and not before.

Baby Boomer Fun

Baby Boomers 1946 - 1964 click here to find out what happened in the world when you were born

Familial Coat of Arms

Life on Mars?

Fingerprints for ID demanded from a woman without arms

News of the Stupid

From the Johannesburg , South Africa, office:

The department of home affairs has failed to put in place a system that will help people with disabilities to get identity documents, the SA Human Rights Commission said.

Spokesman Vincent Moaga said the commission was concerned the department had requested that a woman with no arms could not get an ID unless she was fingerprinted.

Victoria Modise, 37, of Diepkloof Zone, Soweto, who lost her ID last year, applied for a replacement but was told she needed to be fingerprinted.

Moaga said the commission was deeply concerned by this incident.

He said the department should refer to international practice and follow suit.

“Home Affairs should look at international practices and see what system can be put in place to assist people with disabilities to get their IDs.”

Moaga said despite the commission meeting the department of home affairs last year to discuss these issues, not much had been done.

*****

And to think incidents such as these are actually commonplace everywhere. That is scary.

Lightbulb that's burned for 107 years

A lightbulb in a firehouse in Livermore, CA, has been burning continuously since 1901.

In 1901, when the tiny bulb was first screwed into place inside a so-called hose cart house, it cast its light on a simpler era.

Back then, horse-pulled carts carried water to fires. The bulb burned day and night, hanging at eye level from a 20-foot cord. Its job: to break the darkness so firefighters responding to calls wouldn't have to fumble to light the wicks of their kerosene lanterns. Manufactured by the Shelby Electric Co. of Shelby, Ohio, the bulb soon outlived its maker, which closed in 1914.

Later, in the main firehouse, it illuminated more modern rigs as horses were replaced by gas-fed engines.

It didn't always receive kid-glove treatment.

Climbing atop their engines, firefighters returning from World War II and Korea often would give the bulb a playful swat for good luck. The next generation -- the Vietnam veterans and the younger kids -- used it as a target for Nerf basketball practice.

Then, in 1972, a local reporter checked records and interviewed old-timers to trace its history. Firefighters suddenly realized they had a treasure.

"The good-luck slaps and target practice stopped," Bramell recalls. "We figured, 'Wow, maybe we should take care of this bulb.' "

Happy Mother's Day: Woman pregnant with 18th child

It's a happy Mother's Day for an Arkansas woman - she's pregnant with her 18th child. Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year's Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.

"We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing.

The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children - whose names start with the letter J - are home-schooled.

Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

The new show looks at life inside the Duggar home, where chores - or "jurisdictions" - are assigned to each child. One episode of the new show involves a "jurisdiction swap," where the boys do chores traditionally assigned to the girls, and vice versa, Duggar said.

"The girls swapped jurisdictions, changing tires, working in the garages, mowing the grass," she said. "The boys got to cook supper from start to finish, clean the bathrooms," among other chores.

Duggar said she's six weeks along and the pregnancy is going well. She and her husband, Jim Bob Duggar, said they'll keep having children as long as God wills it.

"The success in a family is first off, a love for God, and secondly, treating each other like you want to be treated," Jim Bob Duggar said. "Our goal is for each one of our children to be best friends, and everybody working together to serve each other makes that happen."

The other Duggar children, in between Joshua and Jennifer, are Jana, 18; John-David, 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; Jeremiah, 9; Jedidiah, 9; Jason, 7; James, 6; Justin, 5; Jackson, 3; and Johannah, 2.

*****

They know what causes pregnancy now, don't they?

Think Gas is expensive ...

The Price of Gas Versus Printer Ink

All these examples do NOT imply that gasoline is cheap; it just illustrates how outrageous some prices are...

You will be really shocked by the last one! (At least, I was...)

Compared with Gasoline...

Think a gallon of gas is expensive?

This makes one think, and also puts things in perspective.

Diet Snapple 16 oz $1.29... $10.32 per gallon

Lipton Ice Tea 16 oz $1.19... $9.52 per gallon

Gatorade 20 oz $1.59... $10.17 per gallon

Ocean Spray 16 oz $1.25... $10.00 per gallon

Brake Fluid 12 oz $3.15... $33.60 per gallon

Vick's Nyquil 6 oz $8.35... $178.13 per gallon

Pepto Bismol 4 oz $3.85... $123.20 per gallon

Whiteout 7 oz $1.39... $25.42 per gallon

Scope 1.5 oz $0.99... $84.48 per gallon

And this is the REAL KICKER...

Evian water 9 oz $1.49... $21.19 per gallon! $21.19 for WATER and the buyers don't even know the source.

(Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)

Ever wonder why printers are so cheap?

So they have you hooked for the ink. Someone calculated the cost of the ink at... (you won't believe it... but it is true)… $5,200 a gallon (five thousand two hundred dollars).

So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your car doesn't run on water, Scope, Whiteout, Pepto Bismol, Nyquil or God forbid, Printer Ink!

Just a little humor to help ease the pain of your next trip to the pump...

And - If you don't pass this along to at least one person, your muffler will fall off!!

Okay, your muffler won't really fall off... but, you might run out of toilet paper.

Batman in Vietnamese

Holy 1966! Batman!

Monty Python's "Galaxy Song"

Tornado knocks vehicles around in NC

Authorities began combing through the wreckage Friday caused by a reported tornado that killed one person and injured three others in central North Carolina.

A possible tornado touched down on the outskirts of Greensboro late Thursday as severe storms swept across the Southeast, damaging homes and businesses in at least three other states.

Earlier in the day, an apparent tornado also wrecked a shopping area in Mississippi and strong winds flipped a mobile home in Alabama. In south-central Tennessee, at least four homes and a few barns were damaged.

In North Carolina, a person in a small truck was killed after the vehicle was overturned in a parking lot west of Greensboro, said Alan Perdue, emergency services director for Guilford County. He did not have other details.

The storm also knocked down a wall at a distributing business, sending one person to the hospital, Perdue said. Two other people were hurt while in vehicles, but details were not immediately available, Perdue said. None of the injuries was considered life threatening.

The storm left numerous trees and power lines down, some on top of homes, in its wake. Authorities were also combing through wreckage in a mostly industrial area outside of Greensboro, and getting a better look at the damage as daylight broke.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol said the storm blew several tractor-trailers off Interstate 40 but could not confirm the number.

*****

Yep last night's storm was a doozey!

Classified Ads

Want a good laugh?
Read the Classifieds!

Here are but a few examples of actual Classified Ads found in newspapers and newsletters:


•Free puppies: 1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbor's dog.

•Free puppies...mother, AKC German Shepherd, father, super dog, able to leap tall fences in a single bound.

•Found dirty white dog. Looks like a rat. Been out a while. Better be a big reward.

•Nordic Track: $300, hardly used, call Chubby.

•Joining nudist colony! Must sell washer and dryer, $300.

•Wedding dress for sale, worn once by mistake. Call Stephanie.

•For sale. Three canaries of undermined sex. Great Dames for sale.

•Have several very old dresses from grandmother in beautiful condition.

•Tired of cleaning yourself. Let me do it.

•Vacation special: have your home exterminated. Get rid of aunts. Zap does the job in 24 hours.

•Toaster: a gift that every member of the family appreciates. Automatically burns toast.

•For rent: six-room hated apartment.

•Man, honest. Will take anything.

•Used cars. Why go elsewhere to be cheated. Come here first.

•Christmas tag-sale. Handmade gifts for the hard-to-find person.

•Wanted: Hair cutter. Excellent growth potential.

•Wanted. Man to take care of cow that does not smoke or drink.

•Our bikinis are exciting. They are simply the tops.

•Wanted: Widower with school-age children requires person to assume general housekeeping duties. Must be capable of contributing to growth of family.

•And now, the superstore-unequaled in size, unmatched in variety, unrivaled inconvenience.

•We will oil your sewing machine and adjust tension in your home for $1.

•Illustrate? Write today for free help.

•Auto repair service. Free pick-up and delivery. Try us once, you'll never go anywhere again.

•Our experienced mom will care for your child. Fenced yard, meals and smacks included.

•Dog for sale: eats anything and is fond of children.

•Man wanted to work in dynamite factory. Must be willing to travel.

•Stock up and save. Limit: one.

•Semi-annual after Christmas sale.

•Three-year-old teacher needed for preschool. Experience preferred.

•Mixing bowl set designed to please a cook with round bottom for efficient beating.

•Girl wanted to assist magician in cutting-off-head illusion. Blue Cross and salary.

•Dinner special — turkey, $2.35; chicken or beef, $2.25; children, $2.

•For sale: antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.

•Now is your chance to have your ears pierced and get an extra pair to take home, too.

•We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand.

Cell Phones Alter Brain Patterns

New research shows that the electromagnetic signals emanating from mobile phones can alter your brainwaves. Indeed, the latest studies suggest that mobile phone transmissions can even affect behavior. In one study, scientists from the Swinburne University of Technology monitored the brainwaves of folks with Nokia phones, er, strapped to their heads. They noticed that the cell phone transmissions boosted alpha waves. In a separate experiment, researchers from the Loughborough University Sleep Research Centre observed that sleep-deprived subjects with phones on their heads showed a dampening of delta waves that are markers of sleep. For hours after the phones were turned off, the test subjects exhibited difficulty falling asleep. From Scientific American:

Although this research shows that cell phone transmissions can affect a person's brainwaves with persistent effects on behavior, (Loughborough University's James) Horne does not feel there is any need for concern that cell phones are damaging. The arousal effects the researchers measured are equivalent to about half a cup of coffee, and many other factors in a person's surroundings will affect a night's sleep as much or more than cell phone transmissions.

"The significance of the research," he explained, is that although the cell phone power is low, "electromagnetic radiation can nevertheless have an effect on mental behavior when transmitting at the proper frequency." He finds this fact especially remarkable when considering that everyone is surrounded by electromagnetic clutter radiating from all kinds of electronic devices in our modern world. Cell phones in talk mode seem to be particularly well-tuned to frequencies that affect brainwave activity. "The results show sensitivity to low-level radiation to a subtle degree. These findings open the door by a crack for more research to follow. One only wonders if with different doses, durations, or other devices, would there be greater effects?"

I knew I didn't like or have one of those annoying things for a reason! What the studies didn't find was the total lack of courtesy and social decorum cell phone users have - much like smokers!

Eddie Arnold Dead At 89

Eddy Arnold, whose mellow baritone on songs like "Make the World Go Away" made him one of the most successful country singers in history, died Thursday morning, days short of his 90th birthday.

Arnold died at a care facility near Nashville, said Don Cusic, a professor at Belmont University and author of the biography "Eddy Arnold: I'll Hold You in My Heart." His wife of 66 years, Sally, had died in March, and in the same month, Arnold fell outside his home, injuring his hip.

Arnold's vocals on songs like the 1965 "Make the World Go Away," one of his many No. 1 country hits and a top 10 hit on the pop charts, made him one of the most successful country singers in history.

Folksy yet sophisticated, he became a pioneer of "The Nashville Sound," also called "countrypolitan," a mixture of country and pop styles. His crossover success paved the way for later singers such as Kenny Rogers.

"I sing a little country, I sing a little pop and I sing a little folk, and it all goes together," he said in 1970.

He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966. The following year he was the first person to receive the entertainer of the year award from the Country Music Association.

The reference book "Top Country Singles 1944-1993,'" by Joel Whitburn, ranked Arnold the No. 1 country singer in terms of overall success on the Billboard country charts. It lists his first No. 1 hit as "What Is Life Without Love," 1947, and for the following year ranks his "Bouquet of Roses" as the biggest country hit of the entire year.

Other hits included "Cattle Call," "The Last Word in Lonesome Is Me," "Anytime," "Bouquet of Roses," "What's He Doing in My World?" "I Want to Go With You," "Somebody Like Me," "Lonely Again" and "Turn the World Around."

Most of his hits were done in association with famed guitarist Chet Atkins, the producer on most of the recording sessions.

The late Dinah Shore once described his voice as like "warm butter and syrup being poured over wonderful buttermilk pancakes."

Reflecting on his career, he said he never copied anyone.

"I really had an idea about how I wanted to sing from the very beginning," he said.

He revitalized his career in the 1960s by adding strings, a controversial move for a country artist back then.

"I got to thinking, if I just took the same kind of songs I'd been singing and added violins to them, I'd have a new sound," he told The Associated Press in 2002. "They cussed me, but the disc jockeys grabbed it. ... The artists began to say, `Aww, he's left us.' Then within a year, they were doing it!"

Among his recent albums were "Looking Back," 2002, and "After All These Years," 2005.

Joe Galante, chairman of Sony BMG Nashville, which includes RCA country artists, said he was talking about making another just a few weeks ago. "There was a special kind of happiness about him whenever he talked about music, and that is how I will remember him," Galante said.

Over the years, he invested wisely, especially in real estate in the Nashville area, and was regarded as one of the wealthiest men in country music. He once had this advice for young singers: "Get a good lawyer, a good accountant and be on time."

Friends said his wife helped handle his business dealings and was the inspiration for many of his love songs.

"What hurts me more than anything else is that he died of a broken heart," said Grand Ole Opry star Jim Ed Brown, a friend. "I don't think he ever recovered from that."

Arnold was born May 15, 1918, on a farm near Henderson, Tenn., the son of a sharecropper. He sang on radio stations in Jackson, Tenn., Memphis, Tenn., and St. Louis before becoming nationally known.

Early in his career, his manager was Col. Tom Parker, who later became Elvis Presley's manager.

His image was always that of a modest, clean-cut country boy.

"You cannot satisfy all the people," he once said. "They have an image of me. Some people think I'm Billy Graham's half brother, but I'm not. I want people to get this hero thing off their mind and just let me be me."

Arnold lived in Brentwood, a Nashville suburb. Survivors include a son, Richard Edward Arnold Jr., and daughter, Jo Ann Pollard, both of Brentwood.