And I Quote

"We have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is

little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical

grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office."

-- Peggy Noonan, speaking for a lot of Republicans

Magnetic beauty on the sun

Above are magnetic structures on the surface of the sun, imaged by the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope, operated by the Institute for Solar Physics.
This photo is one of a series of photos of the sun recently posted to the Big Picture blog at Boston.com

The Sun at The Big Picture

Science News

Forty-foot long ancient snake

Researchers in Colombia have found fossils of a snake that was more than 40 feet long and weighed over a ton. The paleontologists from the Florida Museum of Natural History say that the snake was a relative of the boa constrictor and slithered around 60 million years ago.

From Science News:

At a site in northern Colombia, (paleontologist Jonathan) Bloch and his colleagues unearthed the partial remains of an ancient snake. Each of the dozen or so vertebrae in that body segment measured about 10 centimeters across. That’s about twice the width of the largest vertebra taken from a 6-meter–long, modern-day anaconda, another modern relative, Bloch notes.

None of the ribs included in the fossil are complete, but the size and curvature of the fragments that remain indicate that the snake “would have had trouble fitting though the door into your office,” he adds. The gargantuan fossils represent an as yet unnamed species.

Fossil Find May Document Largest Snake

Yankees arrested for Cyberstalking

An Andover couple arrested while jogging today is accused of launching a cyber attack against their neighbors – from reportedly signing them up for a nudist group to filing false reports to child welfare workers about their kids, prosecutors charged today.

Bill Johnson, 50, was ordered held on $2,000 cash bail and his wife, Gail Johnson, 50, was ordered held on $1,000 cash bail for their alleged part in the months-long harassment and adult pranks – all waged over a land dispute, prosecutors claim.

The couple was charged with identity fraud, criminal harassment, conspiracy and filing a frivolous child abuse report during their arraignment in Lawrence District Court. An acquaintance of the Johnsons has already been charged in connection with the case.

“If you aren’t miserable, I ain’t happy. Let’s play,” read one nasty e-mail sent to the Johnsons’ High Vale Lane neighbors in March, according to a police report.
Prosecutors claim that the Johnsons’ neighbors — a married couple who appear to be in their 40s or 50s — were signed up as members of the American Association for Nude Recreation, and received a letter thanking them for donating a boat to charity.

In April, a letter was sent to the male alleged victim confirming that he wanted donate his body to science, prosecutors said. “(He) felt it was a direct threat on his life,” according to a police report.

Assistant District Attorney Maura Officer suggested that the Johnsons engaged in a “disturbing” series of events as part of an ugly land dispute with the alleged victims.
She claimed that the Johnsons, with the aid of the third party, took part in the posting of a fake craiglist.com ad for the sale of nine golf carts, as well as the sale of a 1973 Harley and listed their neighbors phone number, noting that calls should be made after 10 p.m.
The alleged victims were bombarded with calls and visits from strangers seeking to buy the items, Officer alleged.

The Johnsons also allegedly made a false report to the Department of Children and Families, prompting social workers to show up at the couple’s home late one night to interview their 14-year-old son.

The alleged victims also received e-mails indicating that someone had acquired all their personal information, including Social Security numbers, cell phones, their home address and names of their children, Officer alleged.
In March, someone used one of the victim’s Social Security numbers to try to open a bank account, according to the police report.

The alleged victims were in court today, but declined comment.

Bill Johnson’s attorney, Ronald J. Ranta, argued that in fact the third party, Gerald D. Colton of Lowell, 55, an acquaintance of the Johnsons who was charged in June with stalking and identity fraud in connection with the case, performed much of the computer harassment.

Colton pleaded not guilty and was ordered held on $7,500 cash bail.
“All these acts were done from Mr. Colton’s computer,” Ranta said.

Gail Johnson’s attorney asked that her client be released on her own personal recognizance, given that she is the primary caretaker for the couple’s three teen-aged children, as well as her cancer-stricken parents.

Don’t Eat High Fructose Corn Syrup? You’re Both Snobby and a Racist.

Even though Lloyd wrote about the Corn Refiners Association ramping up an ad campaign to push back against the rising tide of realization that perhaps our current corn-centered agricultural system isn’t the best thing for our collective health or the environment, I confess that the whole thing wasn’t on my radar until this week, when New York Magazine’s ever popular and ever amusing Approval Matrix pointed it out to me. The whole thing is truly bizarre.

The second in the series of commercials, and a hilarious video response follows:

HFCS in the Park

Response to HFCS in the Park

It’s an End Product on Our Increasingly Unsustainable Food System, To Start...
So why is high fructose corn syrup so nasty anyway? Mothership Meals says it as about good as anyone:

...because it's a crappy industrial product produced through weird enzymic processes, because it gets digested by the liver instead of the stomach, because it is part of our national corn-addiction, because it is so cheap that it is responsible for Big Gulps and the ever-sweetening of things like soup and ketchup, because it is the end product in our increasingly industrialized unsustainable food system and because it is at least in part responsible for the obesity epidemic...

via: New York Magazine and Mothership Meals

Found this over at Treehugger - full article here.

Man arrested for voter (registration) fraud

With all the whining from the repugicans about 'voter fraud' you might be interested to learn that a man has been arrested for just that ... and here's the kicker - he's a repugican!

From the LA Times

The owner of a firm that the California republican party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud.

State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that all signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California.
His firm, Young Political majors, or YPM, collects petition signatures and registers voters in California and other states.

*****

Don't you just hate it when that happens ...
These idiots just can't help themselves - stupidity and criminality go hand in hand with these dolts and the keep proving that over and over and over again.

Mac Duff opts for Obama

Just so you know how bad it is for McPain - even our dog thinks he's full of shit or covered with it at least!

This morning I placed an 8X10 of each - Obama and McPain on the floor out on the porch and told Mac Duff to go and bring me the one he liked when we were in the house.
He bolted out the door and instantly came back in with the picture of Obama and was bouncing excitedly around the room.
I went out to retrieve the picture of McPain and found that Mac Duff had 'relieved himself of all his burdens' on it because it was covered by the biggest pile of doggie-do I have seen him produce to date and it centered square between McPain's eyes.
I didn't think he was out there on the porch alone long enough to leave such a statement, but I was obviously in error.

So there you have it folks - even the animals of America are backing Obama and crapping on McPain.
And you know animals are better judges of character than most people are ... so it is saying something when most people and the animals are in agreement!

Suspect in golf cart eludes Utah sheriff cruisers

A Utah sheriff's office has found that it shouldn't underestimate the golf cart as a getaway car.

A suspect in a souped-up cart managed to elude officers who pursued him last month through an alfalfa field - but only for a while. He was arrested the next day at his grandmother's house.

Officers started pursuing the driver after he was spotted spinning out in a city park in Morgan. He took off into an alfalfa field and jumped irrigation ditches that the sheriff's cruisers couldn't cross.

Morgan County Sheriff's Sgt. Scott Peay suspects the cart was fitted with a car engine instead of the original electric motor.

*****

I don't believe they ought to admit to this one - it's embarrassing ... and funny as hell, to boot.

A Slice of Philosophy

Walk Naked
It puts some color in your Sole!

Colin Powell endorses Obama

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Sunday that he will be voting for Sen. Barack Obama, citing the Democrat's "ability to inspire" and the "inclusive nature of his campaign."

"I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Sen. Barack Obama," Powell said.

*****

Even though he is old Army (and you how we Marines feel about the Army) I have liked Powell - granted it was hard to during the initial lies in the aftermath of the Iraq war when he mouthed the cabal's party line - he has turned his life back to the path.

London WWII-era bombproof tunnels up for sale

For sale: A labyrinth of bombproof tunnels hidden about 100 feet beneath central London. Great location, mysterious past. And the price tag? Well, that's a secret.

The Kingsway Tunnels, originally built in 1942 to protect Londoners from German air raids, are being put for sale by their current owner, telecommunications company BT Group PLC.

"We're looking for a purchaser with the imagination and stature to return the tunnels to productive use," said Elaine Hewitt, who heads BT's property division. "The site has a fantastic history and, now that we have no requirement for it for telecommunications use, it is right that we should offer it to the market. Here's hoping it has a fantastic future as well."

The tunnels, which are about a mile long, were taken over by Britain's foreign intelligence agency MI6 in 1944. The Guardian newspaper said a section of the spy agency known as the Inter Services Research Bureau used the tunnels until May 8, 1945, when it stripped them clean, leaving a question mark over the exact nature of its underground activities.

BT said the tunnels were then used by the government's Public Record Office to store some 400 tons of "highly sensitive documents." They then became property of Britain's Post Office - which at the time ran Britain's telephone network and used the site as a telephone exchange to connect long distance calls.

It was through this reinforced warren that the 1960s hot line connecting the leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union was routed. By the 1980s, when it became the property of BT, it housed secure data backup services and served closed circuit television cameras.

BT spokeswoman Gemma Thomas said Saturday that the company no longer needed the tunnel because the Internet was cutting down on the need for telephone exchanges.

She said restrictions on the tunnels' use meant they could not be converted into a cool new concept hotel, an underground office or a subterranean home. BT suggested they might be suitable for government use or for a major corporation.Thomas refused to reveal was BT was hoping to get from the tunnels' sale

*****

Unusual property. It will be interesting to see how this goes.

How about a Soggy Bottom?

Or at least a sing-a-long song ...

Smell like a Tarheel with new perfume

UNC Chapel Hill now has an official smell. A new collegiate perfume boasts that it captures the essence of the school. Thankfully, it doesn't smell like Woollen Gymnasium.

The $60 bottle is among a handful of fragrances targeting universities with big, loyal alumni bases. Each perfume is based largely on the university's color scheme.

What does Carolina blue smell like? Champagne, lemon, jasmine and lavender.

To contrast: the University of Alabama's color is crimson: a scent heavy in reds such as apple and pomegranate, said Katie Masich, a chemical engineer and president of the perfume company, Masik Collegiate Fragrances.

“It really is about nostalgia,” Masich said. “It's all about bringing it back to that happy time – college.”

Masich's experts even translated UNC's chief icon – The Old Well – into smell, using rose, violet and jasmine. “It's very romantic and it has Southern charm,” she said. The UNC fragrance employs 13 scents, none of which smell like construction dust or the Cave near closing time.

There is no N.C. State or Duke fragrance, but if you're a fan of Penn State, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee or Louisiana State, sniff away.

The UNC perfume can be had from the company's Web site and at a couple of Chapel Hill stores. One is Johnny T-shirt, where manager Heather Frazier said a couple of bottles have sold. “Scent does elicit memories but I never thought of it as a way to promote alumni pride,” she said.

Research has shown that the brain's olfactory pathways are closely linked to the hippocampus, the bit of tissue that records memories. That may be why a smell can dredge up long-submerged experiences.

One can only hope that those experiences smell more like blooming dogwoods than stale beer.
But knowing UNC Chapel Hill I'd vote for the stale beer.

McPain Bombs in North Carolina

McPain was in Concord, NC this morning and a pitiful 'crowd' (in more ways than poor numbers) - was maybe 500 people if that - turned up.

McPain is claiming 7000 - but his numbers are always 'inflated'.

I guess if you counted all the commuters driving by the rally site you could make a plausible claim of several thousand.

Meanwhile in St. Louis, Obama drew a crowd of over 100,000 (and it was counted by local authorities and not 'inflated' by the campaign spin doctors).

Only 500 in a 'Red' state for the 'Red' candidate!
So much for the lie that North Carolina is a 'Red' state.

The Fourteen Tenets of the repugican Party

The Fourteen Tenets of the repugican Party

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism
5. Rampant sexism
6. A controlled mass media
7. Obsession with national security
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together
9. Power of corporations protected
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts
12. Obsession with crime and punishment
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption
14. Fraudulent elections

You say those are The Fourteen Tenets of Fascism.
Oops, my bad. Well, you can see my confusion as to which is which.

Social skills predict future earnings better than cognitive skills

Ten years after graduation, high-school students who had been rated as conscientious and cooperative by their teachers were earning more than classmates who had similar test scores but fewer social skills, said a new University of Illinois study.

The study’s findings challenge the idea that racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic gaps in educational attainment and earnings can be narrowed solely by emphasizing cognitive skills, said Christy Lleras, a University of Illinois assistant professor of human and community development.

“It’s important to note that good schools do more than teach reading, writing, and math. They socialize students and provide the kinds of learning opportunities that help them to become good citizens and to be successful in the labor market,” she said.

From Science Daily

Not too sure about this study and its findings. I know of numerous people who have no social skills whatsoever that are earning more than classmates who have social skills.

Beastly buddies reported stolen from Texas zoo

A 6-foot-tall camel named Moses and his pint-size pony sidekick are missing from a Texas zoo.

Officials at Capital of Texas Zoo near Austin reported the theft of the kid-friendly creatures this week.

Zoo founder Michael Hicks says that the 3-year-old camel and the nearly quarter-century old pony, named Coco, are "best friends" and follow each other.

He says he and the staff are "heartbroken."

Hicks says he last saw both animals in a zoo pasture Tuesday night.

They were gone Wednesday morning.

He has offered a $400 reward for information leading to their safe return.

Some places in the US more 'pro-American' than others

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden ripped into recent comments by his repugican counterpart that suggested that some places in the U.S. are more "pro-America" than others.

Alaska governor Sarah Pale-lyn told a fundraiser in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Thursday night:

"We believe that the best of America is in the small towns that we get to visit, and in the wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation," she said.

"This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans," Pale-lyn added.

At a rally in Mesilla, New Mexico, on Friday, Biden responded to those comments in a vociferous tone.

"I hope it was just a slip on her part and she doesn't really mean it. But she said, it was reported she said, that she likes to visit, 'pro-American' parts of the country," he said to loud boos.

"It doesn't matter where you live, we all love this country, and I hope it gets through. We all love this country," he said. "We are one nation, under God, indivisible. We are all patriotic. We all love our country in every part of this nation! And I'm tired. I am tired, tired, tired, tired of the implications about patriotism."

*****

I guess we are not 'pro-American' around here then because the repugicans won't come here to met us face to face.

And here's a hint for the repugicans ... Greensboro, NC is not 'pro-American' either since the area there is solidly behind Obama as we are here.

Why they went there to stage a fake rally is obvious - they need a 'everyday American crowd' to show the the nation - only thing is the size of the 'crowd' could be counted without the add of a calculator or even paper and pencil for that matter.

It's pathetic and getting even more pathetic.

And as John Cleese said right now America is viewed as the village idiot of the world and as he also said that view would vanish the instant Obama is elected on November 4, 2008

Damn, Can You Believe This Crap?!

From the "Of all the Unmitigated Arrogant Gall" Department: Spread

American International Group is spending money to lobby states to soften new controls on the mortgage industry, the Wall Street Journal reports. When the government took control of mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it prohibited them from lobbying. But it hasn't banned the practice at AIG, the Journal reports. The insurer is working to ease some provisions in a new federal law that establishes strict oversight of mortgage originators, according to state regulators. The law requires that originators be licensed by the states, and to supply comprehensive information so state regulators can track their activities, the newspaper reports. The goal of the new rules is to hold originators accountable if they engage in the sorts of improper or fraudulent lending that ultimately contributed to AIG's downfall, the report said. The law was passed by Congress in July. Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday asked AIG to recover millions of dollars worth of "unreasonable" and "outrageous" payments it made to executives as the big insurer neared collapse, or face legal action for violating state law. Cuomo is conducting a probe into allegedly "unwarranted and outrageous expenditures" at AIG, the Journal reports. The U.S. government extended an $85 billion loan to AIG in September to help it stave off bankruptcy. The loan amount was raised to $122.8 billion earlier this month.

AIG Lobbies to Relax Oversight Rules

Spread the word on this assault on our nation and our future to every corner of the nation and planet and stop these bastards once and for all!
There is a nice damp dark jail cell waiting on these fuckers - let us hasten their occupation of it.

Best of Charlotte Blog Awards for 2009 announced

I am honored and puzzled. Blog Provocateur? Me?