World's oldest man, WWI vet, dies aged 113

I had no idea that there were any WW I veterans still alive. The last one died this morning.

This stately gentleman Allingham, has seen it all in his long lifetime.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Henry Allingham, the world's oldest man and the oldest surviving British veteran from World War I, has died at the age of 113, his care home said Saturday.

Allingham died in his sleep at St. Dunstan's care home in Ovingdean, England, the home said in a statement.

Born on June 6, 1896, Allingham was active until his final days, having celebrated his 113th birthday last month on the HMS President with his family, the care home said.

The Guinness Book of World Records Certified Allingham as the world's oldest man last month, St. Dunstan's said.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Gordon Brown both paid their respects to Allingham on Saturday.

"The queen was saddened to hear of the death of Henry Allingham. He was one of the unique generation who sacrificed so much for us all. Our thoughts are with his family at this time,"

Click here to read what else CNN has on Allingham's history.

image via CNN

ORPHANED BABY OWLS FIND CUDDLY TOY MOM!

by Jill Fehrenbacher

An adorable group of orphaned baby owls have been adopted by a silly-looking toy owl, after they were found on the brink of death in the wild. The tiny tawny owl chicks burrow in under the fluffy toy’s wings to keep warm after they were separated from their own mothers. The chicks, all aged between just four and eight weeks, faced certain death as they fended for themselves alone in the wild but are now recovering in an animal hospital.

This dose of owly cuteness provided by The Daily Mail

Just for the love of writing...

 I Stumbled across this site and thought it would be nice to share with readers who write. Hemingway was one of my favorite authors growing up. I've never tried to emulate his style because it's so unique. So straight forward. Short and brutal. So descriptive. So...

Welcome to "A Bad Hemingway Story", The Website.
This website is the story and the story is written in the "style" of Ernest Hemingway, the greatest American writer that ever lived according to at least a few.
It is written with gusto. It is written for laughs and the joy that comes from bad writing.

The writers of "A Bad Hemingway Story" struggle with the short sentences and the runon sentences and the pointless but rich descriptions for that is what writers of Bad Hemingway must do.

They write. They use email lists to write. They use the keyboard and the mouse. But most of all they write.

Join them, for if you have gotten this far, you are already on your way to being one of them. You long to run with the bulls and fight the mighty marlin and to make love to a woman with a mustache.

Welcome.

~Yulek Hemingway, Curator

FAKE TERROR - THE ROAD TO WAR AND DICTATORSHIP

 This article details how terror has been used to control people through the years. From Marcus Licinius Crassus to the Bush regime, we get a long look at how patriotism has been used to no good ends.

By Michael Rivero

It's the oldest trick in the book, dating back to Roman times; creating the enemies you need. In 70 BC, an ambitious minor politician and extremely wealthy man, Marcus Licinius Crassus, wanted to rule Rome. Just to give you an idea of what sort of man Crassus really was, he is credited with invention of the fire brigade. But in Crassus' version, his fire-fighting slaves would race to the scene of a burning building whereupon Crassus would offer to buy it on the spot for a tiny fraction of it's worth. If the owner sold, Crassus' slaves would put out the fire. If the owner refused to sell, Crassus allowed the building to burn to the ground. By means of this device, Crassus eventually came to be the largest single private land holder in Rome, and used some of his wealth to help back Julius Caesar against Cicero.

Click here to read the rest of this excellent article from WhatReallyHappened

A boon to campers leaves bears unable to 'get inside the box' for a treat!

If you've ever gone camping where bears are you know how important it is to put your food in a safe place. Now, thanks to a Florida company, you can leave your food in a "bear-proof" container that will hold up to 100 pounds, anywhere you want. The bear community isn't going to like this invention, but in the long run it'll be safer for them.Less encounters with humans equals safer conditions for the bears.

New grizzly-tested coolers help bears, campers coexist

By Susan Gallagher, AP Writer

HELENA, Mont. — Keeping cold ones cold when camping in grizzly bear country may be getting a bit easier.

New coolers from a Florida company and a business in Texas that have passed federal and state tests for resistance to grizzlies are the first to be mass-produced. So, local officials willing, adventurers with a boat or a pack animal hefty enough to carry a cooler no longer must hang it 10 feet off the ground to comply with food-storage rules in the back country that grizzlies inhabit.

Click here to read the rest of this article in USA Today

Bears at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, Mont., failed to break into the boxes, made of the same tough plastic used in kayaks.

photo via Living With Wildlife Foundation

Here's an idea that might make a difference...

Jeff Parker, copyright 2009 Cagle Cartoons

NASA Images Find 1,750,000 Year Old Man-Made Bridge between India and Sri Lanka

(@PTI) Space images taken by NASA reveal a mysterious ancient bridge in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka.

The recently discovered bridge currently named as Adam´s Bridge is made of chain of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long.
The bridge´s unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it is man made. The legends as well as Archeological studies reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the a primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ago and the bridge's age is also almost equivalent.
This information is a crucial aspect for an insight into the mysterious legend called Ramayana, which was supposed to have taken place in tredha yuga (more than 1,700,000 years ago).
In this epic, there is a mentioning about a bridge, which was built between Rameshwaram (India) and Srilankan coast under the supervision of a dynamic and invincible figure called Rama who is supposed to be the incarnation of the supreme.

This information may not be of much importance to the archeologists who are interested in exploring the origins of man, but it is sure to open the spiritual gates of the people of the world to have come to know an ancient history linked to the Indian mythology.

"In the eighteenth incarnation (of Lord Krishna), the Lord appeared as King Rama. In order to perform some pleasing work for the demigods, He exhibited superhuman powers by controlling the Indian Ocean and then killing the atheist King Ravana, who was on the other side of the sea" - Srimad Bhagavatam

text and photo via Lankilibrary

 

Libertarians take aim at Sotomayor’s anti-gun stance

July 16, 2009 by Libertarian Party

WASHINGTON — America’s third largest party reiterated its opposition Wednesday to the Supreme Court nomination of federal judge Sonia Sotomayor after the nominee refused to give a firm answer on whether individuals have the right of self-defense.

“Is there a constitutional right to self-defense?” Sotomayor asked when questioned by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) whether or not the Constitution guaranteed him the right of self-defense. “ I can’t think of one. I could be wrong.”

“Whether you agree with her position or not, Judge Sotomayor has had no problem stating that things not directly found in the Constitution are ‘settled law.’  That’s why it’s troubling that when confronted with a constitutionally-enshrined principle she disagrees with, the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of one’s rights, things are suddenly muddled and up for debate,” said Donny Ferguson, Libertarian National Committee Communications Director.

To read the rest of this article from SmallGovTimes click here.

Chihuahua called Smokey gets barbecue fork stuck in head!

X-rays show the three-inch long prongs embedded in the dog's brain after an accident at a garden party in the US.

The 12-week-old puppy was playing at the family party when a fork snapped in half on the grill, flew through the air and stuck into its head.

Before his owners could get to him, he ran into nearby woods.

Luckily two days later its owner Hughie Wagers found Smokey cowering in the undergrowth and immediately rushed to the vet's.

Michelle Duncum, 30, was on duty at the Cumberland Valley Animal Hospital, in London, Kentucky, when Smokey's owner arrived.

Photo By: SWNS

To read the rest of this article from The Telegraph click here.

Here's some Creepy Vintage Ads...

Demonic Little Girl                                          Demonic Ginger Kid

 

What were companies in the 50s and 60s thinking when they created these ads? These are so creepy and disturbing that there could be no other explanation than the involvement of drugs, evil or insanity when they were created. If these ads actually managed to make products sell, the world 40-50 years ago was a messed up place.

To see a whole lot more creepy vintage ads click here to go to Guidespot

Photos via Vintage Advertising (Pool) and the following...

Anonymous troll bloggers that malign others can be prosecuted

I want to give a special thanks to Sue Scheff, the co-author of "Google Bomb" soon to be released in bookstores everywhere, for her help in what to do about trolls. She sent me this article this morning. I've had to deal with a troll/blogger with his own web site for over a month now. He's anonymously attacked me thinking he can get away with it. Every post he's made about me has been saved for evidence and if he ever dares to crawl out from his cave, he better be prepared to suffer the full letter of the law for his lying, slanderous, and malicious posts.

This local troll blogger knows who he is so I'm not going to give his web site any publicity. Every hateful post this coward makes is going to be used against him someday. I do want this anonymous coward to step forth and say who he is. Then we'll see what the courts have to say. So what do you say troll? Are you ready to face the law?

By Marie Parente/Daily News columnist

Milford Daily News

The past few months, several published comments on local newspaper articles by anonymous posters appear to have "crossed the line." One wonders whether they believe they are contributing to a forum, offering constructive criticism or simply intend to inflict pain, damage community standing and humiliate targeted victims.

The anonymous posters use tag names and in several cases may have crossed legal lines by using or feigning the identity of other persons.

Before blogging and published comments on newspaper articles became popular, critics responded to local issues in signed Letters to the Editor.

I am encouraged by recent court cases in which judges have recognized that attempting to malign another person, anonymously or in the public domain, is not protected speech.

Read the rest of the article here.

image via Google Images

Sickening Amounts of Healthcare Lobbying

This is why Americans don't stand a chance for real healthcare reform. The rich have the resources to suppress the poor (who need health care) and to control our lives. It's not about what's best for America...it's all about what's best for Big Industry and their lapdog lobbyists...

Source: Washington Post, July 6, 2009

The healthcare industry is waging a "record-breaking influence campaign," spending "more than $1.4 million a day on lobbying," reports the Washington Post. "The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) doubled its spending to nearly $7 million in the first quarter of 2009, followed by Pfizer, with more than $6 million" spent in just three months. Among the lobbyists are many former Congressional staffers and even former members of Congress, including Dick Armey and Richard Gephardt. The impact is illustrated by a recent meeting in the office of Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus, which "included two former Baucus chiefs of staff: David Castagnetti, whose clients include PhRMA and America's Health Insurance Plans, and Jeffrey A. Forbes, who represents PhRMA, Amgen, Genentech, Merck and others." The Post "identified more than 350 former government aides, each representing an average of four firms or trade groups." PhRMA leads "the pack in spending and employs 49 former government staff members among its 136 lobbyists." Many of the major lobbyists "remain opposed to the public-insurance option" supported by the Obama administration. PhRMA's head, former Congressman Billy Tauzin, finds the Congress-drug industry revolving door "pretty normal." He asked, "Is it a distortion of baseball to hire coaches who have played baseball?"

If Palin runs for the White House guess who benefits?

A ray of hope – or colonial exploitation?

As you sip your coffee or tea this Tuesday morning, here's a subject that everyone has an opinion on; global warming (or if you prefer, climate warming).

But what about the idea of world corporations getting together and basically colonizing parts of the planet (Africa in this example)? Hmmmm.....

By Adam on July 14, 2009

With the United Nations Climate Change Conference now less than six months away, climate scientists remain, at best, 'cautiously optimistic' about the political efforts to prevent runaway climate change - and at worse, devastatingly sceptical. But whilst the 15,000+ politicians and bureaucrats who will be at Copenhagen prepare themselves for some hard negotiating, work on potential 'technological solutions' continues apace. Leaving aside some of the wackier geo-engineering projects, the focus is very much on renewable energy.

News today that a grouping of 12 corporate giants has sealed a deal to develop an enormous solar plant in North Africa has been broadly welcomed as a positive step by government and NGO experts. Greenpeace UK's chief scientist, for example, has stated that the so-called 'Desertec' project is "just the kind of innovation we need if we're going to beat climate change."

Click here to read the rest of this article from OneClimate

photo by Mike Baird

Being stupid should hurt: Texting teen falls into manhole

By Bernie Mooney

When I was a kid and I did something stupid and got hurt, the response of my parents was usually, “Serves you right.” Had I fallen into an open manhole, I never would have lived it down. There would have been hails of derisive laughter from friends and family for months afterward. To quote Bill Cosby, “C'mere. Let me show you my dumb kid.”

Click here to read the rest and to see a video of the teen explaining what happened to her. Her Mom makes a comment too. 

 Go to Bernie's Home Page

NY Changing Culture Examiner

Cheney accused of running an illegal assassination ring

Cheney's secret CIA plan

From The War Room

By Alex Koppelman

In the latest twist in a story that rocked Washington over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported today that the Central Intelligence Agency program recently shut down by current director Leon Panetta was an attempt to kill or capture al-Qaida leaders. A 2001 presidential finding authorized such an endeavor. The Ford administration banned assassination of foreign leaders in the 1970s.

Panetta informed members of two congressional intelligence committees about the secretive CIA directive on June 24, a day after he terminated the effort. Democratic lawmakers were especially roiled by the revelations, which came in the wake of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's controversial claims that the intelligence agency has lied to lawmakers.

What really kicked the story into high gear was the revelation that it had been Vice President Dick Cheney who instructed the CIA to keep the program hidden from Congress. (It also revived interest in a staggering, earlier report by the New Yorker's Sy Hersh, who had previously reported allegations that Cheney ran an assassination ring during his time in office.) Click here to read the rest of the story at Salon.com

 Watch a funny clip from HBO's 'Real Time With Bill Maher,' featuring "Dick Cheney, The Notorious VP" (photo shown here) and the gangsta anthem "Go F**k Yourself."  (Watch video clip)

image of Cheney via about.com : Political Humor

Is this how you feel on Mondays?

 I don't know what it is, but Mondays tend to be tough. Perhaps it's because you partied too hard and are faced with the after effects. Monday also signifies the start of a long work week. When I first wake up I drink lots of coffee so that I can get my sluggish ass moving...now here's a little information on this charming animal called a Blobfish:

The Blobfish inhabits the deep waters off the coasts of Australia and Tasmania.

Due to the inaccessibility of its habitat, it’s rarely seen by humans. Blobfish are found at depths where the pressure is several dozens of times higher than at sea level.

To remain buoyant, the flesh of the Blobfish is primarily a gelatinous mass with a density slightly less than water; which allows the fish to float above the sea floor without expending energy on swimming.

The relative lack of muscle is not a disadvantage as it primarily swallows edible matter that floats by in front it.

More Information on Wikipedia: (Blobfish)

Study cites danger of zinc poisoning from denture creams

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 07/12/2009 01:31:43 AM PDT

If you use denture cream, you might want to sit down while you read this. Remember the old saying, “What you don't know won't hurt you?” That's not the case with some denture creams.

Glaxo Smith Kline, the maker of PoliGrip and Super PoliGrip, and Proctor & Gamble, the makers of Fixodent, are being sued because their products contain zinc, a potentially harmful element when taken in high doses.

Doctors say too much zinc drives down copper levels in the body, affects the spinal cord and makes it hard for people to walk. In a 2008 study published by the Journal of Neurology, the authors said long-term denture cream overuse caused zinc poisoning in four patients, which resulted in neurological problems for all of them.

Zinc-containing denture creams are the center of a growing controversy that suggests their use does cause copper deficiency, neurological problems, and a nerve disorder called neuropathy. Click here to read the rest.

image via Google Images