Thursday, December 27, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Antibacterial Subway Gloves
GERMOPHOBIC commuters face a quandary whenever they have to stand on the bus or the subway: either hang onto the icky metal poles, or risk being tossed about like rag dolls when the brakes are applied. Veteran straphangers who live in mortal fear of a rhinovirus sometimes favor a compromise solution, which Emily A. Beck first observed while riding the R train through Manhattan in early 2005.
“I noticed these people balancing just one finger on a pole, so they wouldn’t have to grab the nasty, slimy metal,” said Ms. Beck, founder of the product design firm LuLu Brands of Wilmington, Del., where she lives.
Read more Via NYT
Bodega Cats
Amid the goods found in the stores, there is one thing that many owners and employees say they cannot do without: their cats. And it goes beyond cuddly companionship. These cats are workers, tireless and enthusiastic hunters of unwanted vermin, and they typically do a far better job than exterminators and poisons.
When a bodega cat is on the prowl, workers say, rats and mice vanish.
ElCap Via NYT
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
A hug from Amma - The "Hugging Saint"
All over the world people are lining up to recieve a hug from Amma
For 30 years Indian spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi, to give her her real name, has been hugging people, leading some to give her a saintly nickname.
Time spent with Amma is free and she does not promote any particular faith, being for "all religions and none". She is said to have doled out some 26 million hugs, or "darshan", as the experience is known. Each is counted off with a clicker.
She has said that to hug someone is to symbolise giving, and that her embrace should help awaken the spirit of selflessness in people.
Read more Via BBC News then see where Amma will be hugging next
I think its a really cool think thats shes doing and personally, I'd kill to hug her.
Contractor, homeowner at odds over fortune found in bathroom walls
A contractor working on a home found $500,000 dollars in cash in the walls of a client and former friend's home. Now they're fighting over the cash.
Imagine that.
Read the story via the Cleveland Plains Dealer
Curiology - The Works of Ward
The Dichotomy Series by painter Alie Ward
These are just great. Someone buy me one, or buy yourself one and tell her I sent you and maybe she'll give me one in gratitude.
See these and more at Curiology
Play BuzzDash - The Game
Like trivial pursuit meets family feud. Pick a catagory and get 15 seconds to answer each of 15 questions as you think most other people answered. Fun and addictive.
Play BuzzDash
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Luck Cat encounters Deadly Copperhead Snake and Lives
JELLY the miracle cat only has eight lives left after a frightening close encounter with a deadly copperhead snake.
Owner Wendy Wallis was outside playing with her children in their Sorell garden on Tuesday when the nine-year-old family pet wandered in through the gate from a paddock.
"At first I thought she had a bird in her mouth, but then I realised it was a snake wrapped twice around her neck and knotted under her chin," Mrs Wallis said yesterday.
Read more Via The Mercury
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Play Bloxorz
Its an addicting game by "addicting games" Fun cool sounds and nice animation. you'll get hooked
Play bloxorz
UPDATE: Yahoo and Google spy on you: Ask.com offers Privacy Switch
I posted about search engines mining your private data and web surfing history in order to target ads based on your searches and pages you've visited. Today the Wall St Journal reports that Ask.com added a privacy tool to let you erase data they've collected about you.
The new feature, dubbed AskEraser, gives users control over whether their information is retained by the search engine. Company officials and privacy advocates hope the "privacy switch" will pressure other Internet companies to follow suit.
"Anywhere that you log into, anywhere where you put in personalized information, there should be a way - an easy way - to control how that information is used and retained," said Doug Leeds, senior vice president at Ask.com
Read more Via Digital Trends
UPDATE: Senate Panel Probes 6 Top Televangelists 2 refuse to cooperate
A second Christian ministry is refusing to meet a Thursday deadline for a Senate investigation into preachers' salaries, perks and travel, The Associated Press has learned.
Benny Hinn of World Healing Center Church Inc. and Benny Hinn Ministries of Grapevine, Texas, said in a statement to the AP on Thursday that he will not respond to the inquiry until next year.
A lawyer for preacher Creflo Dollar of World Changers Church International in suburban Atlanta had said Wednesday that the investigation should be referred to the IRS or the Senate panel should get a subpoena for the documents.
Sen. Charles Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, sent lengthy questionnaires a month ago to six ministries so he could review whether pastors were complying with IRS rules that bar excessive personal gain through tax-exempt work.
Only Joyce Meyer Ministries of Fenton, Mo., has provided the detailed financial and board oversight information sought by Grassley.
Read more here Via Yahoo News
Read Original post
Yahoo and Google spy on you
Based on the weather reports and restaurant listings you check out online, Yahoo Inc. has a good idea where you live. Based on searches you've done, the Web portal might also know where you want to go.
"When you are online today, you've been labeled and tagged as this type of consumer in milliseconds," said Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "All of a sudden you are exposed to a vast number of invisible salespeople who are peering over your personal details to figure out the best way to sell to you."
Elsewhere, online hangout Facebook is mining friends' buying habits, and major Internet portals have bought companies to expand their reach and capabilities for "behavioral targeting" _ all so advertisers can try to hit you with what they believe you're most likely to buy, even as doing so means amassing more data on you.
( And you just thought they were being nice giving you a free email address ....)
Read more Via Washington Times
and The Wall St Journal
Stars And Stripes: Former generals, admirals question military gay policy
Former generals, admirals question military gay policy
Seek repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Saturday, December 1, 2007
Twenty-eight retired generals and admirals released a letter on Friday urging Congress to repeal the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ law, according to a report in Friday’s New York Times. The letter’s release marked the the 14th anniversary of the policy that allows gay men and lesbians to serve in the military but only if they keep their orientation secret.
“We respectfully urge Congress to repeal the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy,” says the letter, a copy of which Stars and Stripes also received.
The officers said in the letter that “scholarly data show” that 65,000 gay men and lesbians now serve in the American armed forces and that there are more than 1 million gay veterans.
“They have served our nation honorably,” the letter states.
Read more Via Stars and Stripes
Did Morgan Spurlock find Osama bin Laden?
Rumors are flying that filmmaker Morgan Spurlock of "Super Size Me" fame may have done what the United States government has failed to do for the last six years — find Osama bin Laden.
Read more Via MSNBC
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Help Greenpeace name the Whale
To help raise awareness, Greenpeace is allowing internet voting to name a whale. You'll then be able to track the whale on their site. The voting isnt even close. Mr. Splashy Pants is leading by a large margin.
Vote to name the whale
Saturday, December 01, 2007
40k a year selling tumbleweeds
Selling tumbleweeds started as a joke on a practice website but turned into a lucrative sideline for Linda Katz as people started ordering them.
All Linda Katz had to do was step outside of her house to make thousands on the Internet. Now the Midwestern entrepreneur is building a business selling a piece of the old west online: tumbleweeds.
Read the story via Yahoo news
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Equally as ridiculous as the next two entries.. well maybe less because this one doesn't actually take itself seriously. I present to you .. The Flying Spaghetti Monster:
Via Wikipedia:
The Flying Spaghetti Monster (also known as the Spaghedeity) is the deity of a parody religion called The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its system of beliefs, "Pastafarianism". The religion was founded in 2005 by Oregon State University physics graduate (at the time, an unemployed slot-machine engineer) Bobby Henderson to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution.
In an open letter sent to the education board, Henderson professes belief in a supernatural creator called the Flying Spaghetti Monster which resembles spaghetti and meatballs. He furthermore calls for the "Pastafarian" theory of creation to be taught in science classrooms.
"I don't have a problem with religion. What I have a problem with is religion posing as science. If there is a god and he's intelligent, then I would guess he has a sense of humor."
Oddly enough the religion is now included in serious theological discussions and Henderson received a reported $80,000 advance to write The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Convert to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
East Chicago, IN - Suspicious Person with Box and Wires on His Head Stops Morning Train
A man dressed similarly to this man stopped a train while praying
Confusion over a Jewish man practicing an ancient religious tradition brought a South Shore train to a halt early Thursday.
Before the misunderstanding was resolved, Metra police and a bomb-sniffing dog were called to a Chicago train stop to investigate.
Robert Byrd, chief of transit police for the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, said passengers on Train No. 108 out of East Chicago told the ticket collector they believed a man on the 6:46 a.m. train was dressed strangely and acting suspiciously.
The man was described as wearing a head piece with a box on the front of it. Passengers said the box had wires sticking out of it. Other wires led down his arm, they reported.
When the man did not respond to repeated inquiries by the South Shore ticket collector and conductor, crews called Metra police as they approached the Illinois passenger train company's tracks in Chicago.
The South Shore crew stopped the train at the 57th Street station in Chicago, where they were met by Metra police and a bomb-sniffing dog.
The man explained that he was Jewish and was in the middle of reciting his daily morning prayers when the South Shore crew tried to question him.
Read more Via NWI.com
Church rejects interfaith service on its property
Hyde Park Baptist says it didn't realize Muslims were leading annual Thanksgiving event.
Austin Area Interreligious Ministries, the city's largest interfaith organization, announced Thursday that its annual Thanksgiving celebration Sunday had to be moved because Hyde Park Baptist Church objected to non-Christians worshipping on its property.
Several Muslim groups were acting as this year's hosts for the event. Kent Jennings, associate pastor of administration at Hyde Park, released a statement Thursday that said church leaders received a postcard about the service Monday and only then realized that it "was not a Christian oriented event."
Read the rest Via the Austin American-Statesman
How to Fold a Towel Elephant
Astound your friends with a Towel Elephant
Learn to make a Towel Elephant here
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Babes of the 70's: Still Hot or Not
How do the 70's babes stand up to the test of time?
Play "Hot or Not" with the Hottest women of 30 years ago
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
“You Must Be At Least 18 to View FOX News”
Family Values be damned .. Fox News Loves Porn
All clips used in this video were taken from Fox News Broadcasts
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Senate Panel Probes 6 Top Televangelists
CBS News has learned Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, is investigating six prominent televangelist ministries for possible financial misconduct.
The six ministries identified as being under investigation by the committee are led by: Paula White, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long, Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn. Three of the six - Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar - also sit on the Board of Regents for the Oral Roberts University.
Read more
Obese get stuck in the rides: Disney redesigns
"Its a small world" in Disneyland has been closed in part due to the increasing girth of the park visitors. Heavy people were causing the boats to bottom out and people were getting stuck in the rides.
The boats weren't designed to handle multiple adults weighing more than 200 pounds, and they now routinely bottom out in the shallow flume and get stuck. The Imagineers who designed the unique flume ride system for the World's Fair assumed that adult men would average 175 pounds, and adult women would average 135 pounds. Needless to say, those 1960's statistics are hopelessly out of date in today's world. This same issue creates similar problems on the drops at Pirates of the Caribbean, or even on the older dark rides like Pinocchio or Alice In Wonderland as the more heavily loaded cars try to keep up their pace throughout the ride. But at it's a small world, the weight related problems happen more frequently.
Read more ( third story down )
Strong passwords: How to create and use them
Microsoft has a decent page of tips for picking passwords and a tester to check them. Test your password then read their tips
Monday, October 29, 2007
Word Shoot - QWERTY Warriors
Type the Word next to Your Enemies as Fast as You Can. Sure beats typing tutor games to make you faster! Be Fast or Die.
Play here.
Soap up! The 12 germiest places in your life
Today Show presents the 12 germiest places you encounter in any given day.
ATM buttons are #6 .. Am I the only one that hates touching those things?
Read all about em.
Test your vocabluary and donate Free Rice
For each word you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. Lots of fun too.
Play here
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Former Nun Cited For 62 Counts Of Animal Cruelty
The SPCA was literally chasing down some animals as they were taken out of a Philadelphia row home Wednesday.
Neighbors said the women who owns the home is a former nun who just couldn't say no to taking in homeless animals.
Police said the woman was cited for 62 counts of animal cruelty, meaning she could have to pay $43,000 worth of fines.
Animal control workers wore masks Wednesday to avoid the smell that was coming from the home that contained 46 cats and 16 dogs. All of them were placed in Philadelphia Animal Control and Pennsylvania SPCA vehicles.
I can relate.
More on the story here Via NBC10
When NOT To Hyphenate Your Name
I know Jay Leno does these, but .... I don't watch Leno.
See... It's funny cuz her last name is "Wang" and she's marrying a guy named "Holder"
There's more here
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Watch me on the catwalk...
The song if you're curious is: "33Rev" by - "Those Two Guys"
Available here
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Repost: Use Your Freedom To Write Wrongs
Amnesty International
About a year ago I posted this picture that was used as part of a human rights campaign by Amnesty International. Recently someone posted a comment asking about it, and I realized that without context part of the impact might be lost.
A.I. altered the original photo, (shown below) which at the time was one of the most widely known images of the Vietnam War.
From the BBC:
It shows the South Vietnamese General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong officer with a single shot to the head.
Photographs do not tell the whole truth, however. The prisoner had just killed at least eight people, which is what led Gen Loan to carry out the execution.
The image was to change the public perception of the war and haunted Gen Loan until his death.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Texas Woman Claims to Have Found Mythical 'Chupacabra'
Phylis Canion lived in Africa for four years. She's been a hunter all her life and has the mounted heads of a zebra and other exotic animals in her house to prove it. But the roadkill she found last month outside her ranch was a new one even for her, worth putting in a freezer hidden from curious onlookers: Canion believes she may have the head of the mythical, bloodsucking chupacabra.
read more - Via Fox news
Man Dies 40 years after being shot, Shooter charged with murder.
Four decades after Officer Walter T. Barclay was shot while trying to stop a beauty salon burglary, the gunman who left him paralyzed is being charged with murder, the district attorney said Tuesday.
Barclay died two weeks ago of an infection at age 64. The city's deputy medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, saying it stemmed from the gunshot wound Barclay suffered back in 1966.
"When you set in motion a chain of events, a perpetrator of a crime is responsible for every single thing that follows from that chain of events no matter how distant," District Attorney Lynne Abraham said Tuesday in announcing the murder charge.
The shooter, William Barnes, is now 71. He served a 15-year sentence for attempted murder after the shooting and now works in a supermarket while living at a halfway house.
Via CNN
Republican hypocrisy on moral values
The devil decries evil.
Virtue is his guise
To find the hidden villain
Listen for the loudest voice.
Daily Kos has an alphabetical list of the current sex scandals of the Republican "family value" crew. Some you may remember, some you may have forgot.
Ted Haggart, Mark Foley, David Vitter, Bob Allen, and Larry Craig are just the latest crop of hypocrites.
Examples of Republican Sex Scandals
Republican Sex Scandals
Whistleblowers on Iraqi Fraud Facing Penalties
One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted.
Via Forbes Magazine
The Great Iraq Swindle - Rolling Stone
How Bush Allowed an Army of For-Profit Contractors to Invade the U.S. Treasury:
According to the most reliable estimates, we have doled out more than $500 billion for the war, as well as $44 billion for the Iraqi reconstruction effort. And what did America's contractors give us for that money? They built big steaming shit piles, set brand-new trucks on fire, drove back and forth across the desert for no reason at all and dumped bags of nails in ditches.
Read The Great Iraq Swindle - Via Rolling Stone
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Are all conservatives gay?
Is the term "family values" code for gay in the republican party?
I'm really confused because here's another republican screaming against homosexuality, getting outted. Maybe they just want to save all the guys for themselves.
Via CNN
According to Roll Call, the arresting officer alleged that Craig lingered outside a rest room stall where the officer was sitting, then entered the stall next door and blocked the door with his luggage. According to the arrest report, Craig tapped his right foot, which the officer said he recognized "as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct."
Craig, Idaho's senior senator, is married with three grown children and nine grandchildren. A former rancher, he was first elected to the Senate in 1990, after serving a decade in the House. His seat is up for re-election in 2008.
Last fall, Craig's office publicly denied assertions by an Internet blogger Mike Rogers that the senator was gay, dismissing speculation about his sexuality as "completely ridiculous."
In recent years, Craig's voting record has earned him top ratings from social conservative groups such as the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council. He has supported a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, telling his colleagues that it was " important for us to stand up now and protect traditional marriage, which is under attack by a few unelected judges and litigious activists."
In 1996, Craig also voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal recognition to same-sex marriages and prevents states from being forced to recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples legally performed in other states.
Craig has also opposed expanding the federal hate crimes law to cover offenses motivated by anti-gay bias and, in 1996, voted against a bill that would have outlawed employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, which failed by a single vote in the Senate.Craig, Idaho's senior senator, is married with three grown children and nine grandchildren. A former rancher, he was first elected to the Senate in 1990, after serving a decade in the House. His seat is up for re-election in 2008.
Last fall, Craig's office publicly denied assertions by an Internet blogger Mike Rogers that the senator was gay, dismissing speculation about his sexuality as "completely ridiculous."
In recent years, Craig's voting record has earned him top ratings from social conservative groups such as the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council. He has supported a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, telling his colleagues that it was " important for us to stand up now and protect traditional marriage, which is under attack by a few unelected judges and litigious activists."
In 1996, Craig also voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal recognition to same-sex marriages and prevents states from being forced to recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples legally performed in other states.
Craig has also opposed expanding the federal hate crimes law to cover offenses motivated by anti-gay bias and, in 1996, voted against a bill that would have outlawed employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, which failed by a single vote in the Senate.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Dick Cheney in 94 - Invading Iraq Would Create A Quagmire
Its like he was Nostradamus or something. Dick Cheney should have listened to Dick Cheney
Monday, August 06, 2007
It's not a Clown Car Update ... Baby # 17 is here
Lotsa traffic for this so I guess I should update it.
Bob and Michelle Duggar have had their 17th child
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggars are proud parents of 17 children.
Youngest, Jennifer Danielle, was born Thursday
Mother Michelle Duggar has been pregnant for 10.5 years
She says family would love to have more children
Via CNN
Friday, July 27, 2007
Head of Young Republicans pleads guilty to rape and swiftboating his accuser
Michael Flory, a 32-year-old attorney from Jackson, Mich., pleaded guilty to sexual battery on the day he was to stand trial for rape. Flory gained some notoriety at age 18 when he gave a televised speech to the Republican National Convention in the Houston Astrodome in 1992.
The former head of the Michigan Federation of Young Republicans admitted today that he sexually abused a colleague during a national convention here last summer.
The victim, who is 22, declined to speak after Flory's guilty plea.
She and some supporters lamented when the incident became public last winter that Flory and his followers within the Republican organization had been smearing her reputation in retaliation for accusing Flory of rape. Skutnik said she found that to be true.
"People were using every opportunity to try to trash her, on Web sites or whatever," the prosecutor said. "He's been running around telling everybody what a piece of trash she is, so she was very happy to see him plead guilty."
Read more via The Plains Dealer
Monday, July 23, 2007
Pepsi labels Aquafina as Tap Water
NEW YORK (Reuters) - PepsiCo Inc. will spell out that its Aquafina bottled water is made with tap water, a concession to the growing environmental and political opposition to the bottled water industry.
According to Corporate Accountability International, a U.S. watchdog group, the world's No. 2 beverage company will include the words "Public Water Source" on Aquafina labels.
Yahoo News
"If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources, then it's a reasonable thing to do," said Michelle Naughton, a Pepsi-Cola North America spokeswoman.
Bush appointee politicizes endangered species list
U.S. could reverse suspect endangered species rulings
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, accused of letting a political appointee meddle in the science of endangered species, said on Friday it could reverse eight decisions if it finds they were inappropriately influenced by political concerns.
The decisions under review affected species as varied as the Hawaiian picture-wing fly and the white-tailed prairie dog. All involved input from Julie MacDonald, a former deputy assistant secretary who resigned in May after government scientists complained of political interference.
Dale Hall, head of the Fish and Wildlife Service, said hundreds of endangered species decisions from MacDonald's five-year tenure were reviewed after her resignation, and eight were singled out for further evaluation and possible reversal.
"These are important because it's a blemish, I believe, on the scientific integrity of the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior, so we're going to place a pretty high priority on trying to get these done," Hall said in a telephone briefing.
Without being definitive, Hall indicated reversals were likely: "We wouldn't be doing them (the re-evaluations) if we didn't at least suspect that the decision will be different."
Read more Via Reuters
Vodka snobs: Cheaper is Better
Are you a vodka snob? Do you routinely buy a pricey brand over a less expensive one? If so, you're part of a growing trend. "20/20" wanted to see what all the fuss was about … so we conducted a little test.
Read the rest - Via 20/20
Connoisseurs award prize to $2 wine
The connoisseurs may cringe, the snobs may even sob, but the judges have spoken: California's best chardonnay costs less than $3.
Charles Shaw Chardonnay, better known as "Two Buck Chuck," beat hundreds of other wines and was named the top prize in a prestigious tasting competition in California.
"The characteristics that we look for in our gold medal winner & a nice creamy butter, fruity & it was a delight to taste," said 2007 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition judge Michael Williams.
The affordable wine beat out 350 other California chardonnays to win the double gold. Second place went to an $18 bottle, and the most expensive wines at the event, at the price of $55, didn't even medal.
Read more Via 6ABC (Philadelphia)
MS patient misdiagnosed as insane
A Quebec woman is looking for redress after her husband was misdiagnosed as being insane.
Turns out, he actually had multiple sclerosis.
Anatole Otis was 50-years-old when his health began to deteriorate 14 years ago.
A neurologist told him he was insane.
A T-Q-S news report says it wasn't until 2004, 14 years after his initial diagnosis, that a second neurologist discovered the truth.
His wife, Carmen Plourde, believes appropriate medication would have slowed the disease's progression.
Otis has been confined to a bed for several years.
The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada says the disease was difficult to diagnose as recent as the early 1990's.
Still, the group is stunned a neurologist confused multiple sclerosis with a mental illness.
Via 940AM (Montreal)
Philly tap water beats out bottled water in taste test.
Can people really tell the difference?
So I packed a cooler for a taste test, with New Jersey tap chilled in an empty seltzer bottle; Philly tap, given the same treatment; a bottle of Poland Spring that cost less than $2; and a bottle of 10 Thousand BC "100 percent natural Canadian glacier water," which sells at the Water Works restaurant for - brace yourself - $22 a bottle.
Read more Via: Phila Daily News
This woman's identity used by this man when he was arrested for prostitution
One of these people is Brittany Ossenfort the other is a guy named Richard Phillips.
I'm not entirely sure who is who. They were roommates, Brittany thought she was living with another woman named Michelle. Michelle slowly started look more and more like Brittany. Michelle was arrested for prostitution, he gave Brittany's stolen ID, and still insists he's Brittany.
Story and video here
Sunday, July 15, 2007
One photo the GOP does not want anyone to see...
Friday, July 13, 2007
Samoa butterflies quickly evolve and avoid extinction
CHICAGO (Reuters) - When faced with extinction, butterflies on two South Pacific islands quickly developed genetic defences that helped them fight back, a team of international researchers said on Tuesday.
They said the butterflies' tale is the fastest example of natural selection observed to date and shows evolution can happen quickly when the stakes are high.
Read more via Yahoo News
No idea what this means for the religious fundamentalists who refuse to believe in evolution
Another Republican Sex Offender caught in the act
Hey Johnny Cakes ....
A tearful Florida Rep. Bob Allen said Thursday that he is not guilty of soliciting an undercover male officer for sex and had no intention of resigning his House seat.
Police arrested Allen Wednesday afternoon at a Titusville park bathroom after officials said he offered to perform oral sex on an undercover officer and to pay the officer $20 for the opportunity. He faces one charge of solicitation, a second-degree misdemeanor, and posted $500 bond later Wednesday and was released from the Brevard County jail.
Personally I wouldn't care a whit but here's Bathroom Bob's Legislation
The representative sponsored HR 597 - Sexual Solicitation and Abuse-last legislative session. The bill-adopted 4/27/2007- encourages the education of parents and children regarding the dangers of sexual solicitation and the abuse of youth.
[...]
HOUSE BILL 1475 Sponsor: Rep. Bob Allen (R-Merritt Island). This bill broadens the scope of Section 800.04 of the Florida Statutes. That section specifically addresses "lewd or lascivious exhibition," including public masturbation. HB 1475 broadens the scope of 800.04 to include lewd acts committed in the presence of those of any age, not just those under the age of 16, as the existing law specifies. HB 1475 does not mention 800.03 at all, but it increases the penalty for lewd acts under 800.04.
Read more here
Bush admits to treason
President Bush Acknowledges Leak in Libby Case, Wants to 'Move On'
The president had initially said he would fire anyone in his administration found to have publicly disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and a CIA operative.
"I'm aware of the fact that perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person," Bush said. "I've often thought about what would have happened if that person had come forth and said, 'I did it.' Would we have had this endless hours of investigation and a lot of money being spent on this matter? But, so, it's been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House. It's run its course and now we're going to move on."
Via Fox News
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Yawn ... Gonzales Lied - Knew about FBI Law Breaking
The Gonzo-deathclock resumed ticking last night after the Electronic Frontier Foundation revealed that months before embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Congress in 2005 that "There has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse" regarding the use of National Security Letters, he had been informed of several civil liberties abuses committed by the FBI using NSLs.
Via Wired
Poll: Bush approval drops to low of 29%
WASHINGTON — Opposition to the Iraq war has reached a record high, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, a development likely to complicate President Bush's efforts to hold together Republican support as the Senate begins debate this week on Pentagon priorities.
Bush's approval rating has reached a new low: 29%.
In the survey, taken Friday through Sunday, one in five Americans say the increase in U.S. forces in Iraq since January has made the situation there better. Half say it hasn't made a difference.
More than seven in 10 favor removing nearly all U.S. troops from Iraq by April.
Read the Poll - Via USA Today
Hypocritical GOP Senator caught with hooker - Wife promised castration
Another Republican hypocrite gets caught with his pants down
As Washington is abuzz with the news that GOP Sen. David Vitter once used the “DC Madam’s” escort service, the ears of his wife, Wendy Vitter, must be ringing. In 2000, you see, Ms. Wendy was quoted in a news article focused on Bill Clinton’s marital infidelities.
“I’m a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary,” she told a reporter regarding whether she could forgive her husband if she learned he’d cheated as Hillary Clinton had done after Monica Lewinsky became a household name. “I’m walking away with one thing, and it’s not alimony, trust me.”
Vitter, a "family values" guy, has been a strong proponent of abstinence for everyone but himself.
Via Big Head DC
Ex Surgeon General testifies: Bush Muzzled Me.
President Bush's most recent surgeon general accused the administration Tuesday of muzzling him for political reasons on hot-button health issues such as emergency contraception and abstinence-only education.
Dr. Richard Carmona, the nation's 17th surgeon general, told lawmakers that all surgeons general have had to deal with politics but none more so than he.
For example, he said he wasn't allowed to make a speech at the Special Olympics because it was viewed as benefiting a political opponent. However, he said was asked to speak at events designed to benefit Republican lawmakers.
"The reality is that the nation's doctor has been marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget, and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan agendas," said Carmona, who served from 2002 to 2006.
read more on Fox News
Big Wendy the muscular whippet
People mistake her for a pitbull with a pinhead, but Wendy the whippet is one rare breed.
So rare that the Central Saanich dog recently graced the New York Times. She also had several of her photos shown on The Today Show, all because of a rare genetic mutation that has led to her being the Incredible Hulk of dogs.
Wendy is a 27-kilogram rippling mass of muscle. Forget the so-called six-pack stomach: Wendy has a 24-pack. And the muscles around her neck are so thick, they look like a lion's ruff.
This is what a normal Whippet looks like
read more
Actor Charles Lane Dies at 102
The old man on the left was famous for playing the old man on the right.
Charles Lane, the prolific character actor whose name was little known but whose crotchety persona and roles in hundreds of films made him instantly recognizable to generations of moviegoers, has died. He was 102.
Read about him on IMDB
Sunday, July 08, 2007
The Impossible Knot
How to tie an impossible knot that can't be untied.
Do this to your shoes, but don't tell you that you're doing it so you're all pissed off at you, when you find out.
Friday, July 06, 2007
One woman's plans to corner the iPhone market goes bust
She shows up with $100k spends $800 to buy a guy's place in line.
Things don't work out like she planned.
Watch it
msnbc anchor refuses to cover Paris Hilton
Mika Brzezinski kinda loses it here .. but you can't fault her for it.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
41% of Americans believe Saddam linked to 9/11 says Newsweek poll
According to a recently conducted Newsweek poll 41% of Americans answered 'Yes' to the question "Do you think Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq was directly involved in planning, financing, or carrying out the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001?"
Wonder where they got that idea?
Read the poll
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Democrats plan to cut Cheney out of executive funding bill
Following Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that his office is not a part of the executive branch of the US government, Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) plans to introduce an amendment to the the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill to cut funding for Cheney's office.
On Thursday, Emanuel suggested that if Cheney feels his office is not part of the executive branch "he should return the salary the American taxpayers have been paying him since January 2001, and move out of the home for which they are footing the bill."
read more on RawStory
Gotta love oversight
FBI Report: Bin Laden May Have Chartered Saudi Flight Out of U.S. after 9/11
According to records obtained by Judicial Watch, through the Freedom of Information act, new documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) related to the “expeditious departure” of Saudi nationals, including members of the bin Laden family, from the United States following the 9/11 attacks. According to one of the formerly confidential documents, dated 9/21/2001, terrorist Osama bin Laden may have chartered one of the Saudi flights.
The document states: “ON 9/19/01, A 727 PLANE LEFT LAX, RYAN FLT #441 TO ORLANDO, FL W/ETA (estimated time of arrival) OF 4-5PM. THE PLANE WAS CHARTERED EITHER BY THE SAUDI ARABIAN ROYAL FAMILY OR OSAMA BIN LADEN…THE LA FBI SEARCHED THE PLANE [REDACTED] LUGGAGE, OF WHICH NOTHING UNUSUAL WAS FOUND.” The plane was allowed to depart the United States after making four stops to pick up passengers, ultimately landing in Paris where all passengers disembarked on 9/20/01, according to the document.
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released.
Read the whole report here.
Anyone still wondering why we haven't found the evil doer yet?
Cheney challenges classified oversight
Vice President Dick Cheney's office refused to cooperate with an agency that oversees classified documents, then tried to abolish the office when it challenged the actions.
Read the full story here
Would we expect anything less from him?
White House aides used GOP e-mail to skirt law
E-mail records are missing for 51 of the 88 White House aides with Republican Party accounts, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee reported Monday.
The White House says the accounts were set up to keep political work separate from official business, but investigators concluded White House officials used the accounts to conduct official business in a way that circumvented the Watergate-era Presidential Records Act.
The 37 accounts the Republican National Committee did save include nearly 675,000 individual messages -- more than 140,000 of them from Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser.
"Whether intentionally or inadvertently, it appears that the RNC has destroyed a large volume of the e-mails of White House officials who used RNC e-mail accounts," the report states.
The committee found 88 officials who held GOP e-mail accounts; the White House had acknowledged 50.
Read more CNN
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Lifestye Pets - Ashera Kittens $22,000
At first sight always a gasp. Then questions. Is it a mini-leopard?
As one of the exclusive owners of an Ashera, you own the world's rarest and most exotic breed of domestic breed of cat. Developed by blending two exotic feline bloodlines with the domestic cat, the distinctive result is the Ashera. Featuring leopard like spots and contrasting stripes, the Ashera can reach a weight of thirty pounds (fourteen kilos) Lifestyle Pets Inc. developed the Ashera by way of a proprietary blend of the exotic bloodlines of the African Serval and the Asian Leopard Cat subsequently bred with a domestic cat.
The Ashera is priced at $22,000, plus any applicable sales taxes and is due at time of order.
All Ashera kittens are hand delivered to their new owners and hand carried on the transporting aircraft by a Lifestyle Pets representative. Total cost of delivery within the United States is approximately $1,500; outside of the USA we will quote you by location.
Order one today - Lifestyle Pets
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