Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Getting defensive is good for men — but not women

Study shows such behavior makes men feel less stressed; women have opposite reaction

This study seems kinda odd to me. You’d think when someone is being defensive, they’d be stressed out. But no! The researchers say that men actually feel more in control when their being defensive.

This may be because Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus (read the book, it’s great).

photo source

Ancient legal code uncovered: ‘an eye for an eye’

Israeli archaeologists say they have found two 3,700-year-old clay tablets that appear to contain legal pronouncements similar to the Code of Hammurabi and the biblical "tooth for a tooth" rule.

Photo: A fragment of a cuneiform tablet, found amid excavations at Hazor in northern Israel, appears to record legal pronouncements.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Garage sale find of the century: authentic Ansel Adams glass negatives for $45

California man paid $45 for glass negatives which may fetch $200 million!

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Photographs displayed during a news conference, made from glass plate negatives shot by the late photographer Ansel Adams are seen in Beverly Hills, on Tuesday July 27,2010. A lawyer says a trove of old glass negatives found in a garage sale for 45 dollars, by Rick Norsigian a painter from Fresno, Calif. has been authenticated as the work of photographer Ansel Adams and are worth at least $200 million.

D.C. Medical Marijuana Law Clears Congressional Hurdle!

The District will join 14 states across the country in having effective medical marijuana laws.

“After thwarting the will of District voters for more than a decade, Congress is no longer standing in the way of effective relief for D.C. residents who struggle with chronic ailments,” MPP executive director Rob Kampia said in a press release. “This moment is a long overdue victory for both D.C. home rule and the wellbeing of District residents whose doctors believe medical marijuana can help ease their pain.”

Audit: U.S. can't account for $8.7 billion in Iraqi cash

Image: Iraqi workers at the Rumaila oil refinery

Oil funds were 'vulnerable to inappropriate uses and undetected loss'

“The report by the U.S. Special Investigator for Iraq Reconstruction offers a compelling look at continued laxness in how such funds are being spent in a country where people complain basic services like electricity and clean water are sharply lacking seven years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.”

Despite the conclusion that the whole system was easy to rip off, it also said: 

“The audit did not indicate that investigators believed there were any instances of fraud involved in the spending of these funds.”

Say what? All this money – a whopping $8.7 billion in cash – just disappears and the investigating agency says no fraud was found? In the real world billions of dollars do not evaporate like smoke – which someone in the U.S. Special Investigator’s office is now trying to blow up the public’s ass!

Scum of the Month: Andrew Breitbart set to speak at RNC Fundraiser

Breitbart.

It was a no-brainer for the coveted “As It Stands Scum of the Month Award” for July…

As a matter of fact, in a rare double dip, Breitbart has also earned his “Ass Hole” badge making him eligible for Scum of the Year!

AssholeBadge

Conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart (pictured here) -- who posted the very misleading excerpt of Shirley Sherrod's address to the NAACP -- is set to participate in an August fundraiser with RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

Wouldn’t you like to go and hear what this racist has to say next? He’s going to be inspiring a roomful of intolerant, lying, racist, politicians, who want to be just like him!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Persistent Pooping Pigeons Bombard Band – Concert Halted

Caleb Followill, lead singer for "Kings of Leon," appears with his band on NBC's 'Today' show in New York

Pigeon droppings halt Kings of Leon concert

Heavy storms and scorching temperatures have failed to deter rock bands from performing at an outdoor stadium in St. Louis, but a bombardment of pigeon droppings proved too much for the Kings of Leon.

The band halted the Friday night concert at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre after three songs when the infestation of birds in the arena's rafters dropped their onslaught of feces.

A statement from the band's management company, Vector Management, said bassist Jared Followill (pictured right) seemed to be a particular target of the pigeons, whose droppings were a potential health hazard.

The Riddle of the Rats: Discovered: The Biggest Rat That Ever Lived – or Is It?

Here, the upper tooth rows of Timor\'s extinct giant rat (left#, the biggest rat that ever lived, compared with the skull of a black rat #right#, one of the most common rats, weighing some 5 ounces #150 grams). The skull of the black rat shown here is 35 mm long. Credit: Ken Aplin, CSIRO.

Researchers announced today that they have unearthed the remains of the biggest rat that ever lived on this planet.

The skeletal remains of the robust rodent were found in a cave. The excavations also turned up 13 other species of rodents, 11 of which are new to science, with eight of the rats estimated to have weighed more than 2 pounds (1 kg

When alive, the giant of the bunch weighed some 13.2 pounds (6 kilograms). For comparison, a house rat weighs on average 5 ounces (150 grams). Today's heftiest rats weigh around 4.4 pounds (2 kg) and live in rain forests in the Philippines and New Guinea.”

There’s at least one little detail (forgive the pun) that bothers me.

What about the Capybara (photo right)? I read where it’s the largest living rodent (rat?) today, and that the Capybara measures from 40 to 55 inches long, and the males can weigh up to 135 pounds!

That seems a whole lot bigger than what these, puny by comparison, rodent/rat ancestors who barely tipped the scales in comparison. So what’s the big deal? Are the researchers unaware of the prodigious Capybara? Not likely. Do they consider it something other than a rat? Hmmmm…The Capybara is a rodent. When is a rodent not a rat? None of this makes sense to me.

It gets even more confusing. Read about another rodent with the claim of being the biggest that ever lived. The Josephoartigasia monesi weighed a ton or two, according to scientists, and was bigger than a bull! This guy was a relative to the Capybara:

“An amateur paleontologist discovered the exceptionally well-preserved 20-inch-long fossil skull of the gargantuan rodent — dubbed Josephoartigasia monesi (shown at left)— embedded in a boulder on a beach in Uruguay. Scientists estimate this creature lived roughly 4 million years ago in South America, alongside terror birds, saber-toothed cats, giant sloths and massive armored mammals.”

J. monesi weighed roughly 2,600 pounds on average, perhaps reaching up to 5,700 pounds.”

I’d like to know the REST OF THE STORY (forgive me Paul Harvey). Rodents and rats are same same right? I’m not sure now…Here’s a shout out to anyone who can solve the riddle of the rats for me.

A real nightmare: Bed bugs biting all over the U.S.

More than 95 percent of exterminators across the country report infestations, new survey finds

Forget about fictional, glitter-skinned teen vampires. You’re far more likely to have your blood sucked by bed bugs!

The tiny, sneaky insects are spreading so rapidly across the United States that almost no region or area is unbitten, a new survey suggests. Calls to exterminators nationwide about bed bugs are up 57 percent nationwide in the last five years, according to a new survey by the National Pest Management Association and the University of Kentucky. More than 95 percent of 519 U.S. exterminators participating in the survey reported finding at least one bed bug infestation in the past year.

Photos: Sleeping with the enemy

Go here to see more.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

As It Stands: This column's genesis, anniversary and gnarly toes

Dave the 4th of July

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 07/25/2010 01:30:27 AM PDT

Editor's Note: It's been two years since Dave Stancliff became a regular fixture on the Sunday opinion page. In that time, he's generated a great deal of discussion, positive feedback and more than a few angry phone calls. The latter, to most columnists, is almost better than a compliment. Happy anniversary Dave.

First off, no one asked me to give the genesis of this column, but I couldn't think of anything else to write about this week. (comedic pause ... )

”As It Stands” has been featured in the Times-Standard's Sunday opinion page since July 27, 2008. I'd let its anniversary slip by without comment last July. I'm not sure why. More than likely, I plain forgot to note the milestone.

I thought about leading off this column by saying my faithful legions of readers have petitioned me for its history. The problem is, the only regular readers I can think of are either related or friends!

I'm not going to let that discourage me. “As It Stands” was unveiled in 1976 while I was on the editorial staff of The Hornet Newspaper, a campus publication for Fullerton Community College. Instead of my photo by the column, I drew two cartoon legs (cut off at the knee) ending in feet with big gnarly toes. It was really ridiculous and readers loved it.

The next time my column publicly surfaced was in 1981, when I was editor of a little weekly newspaper called The Desert Trail. I had to tone it down from the college version, but still used it as a way of to reach out to readers with an informal platform. Some even called it “folksy.”

That platform became more political over the years, and my usual bizarre and humorous topics gave way to questioning politicians in local government and making observations on national politics.

When I quit writing the column in 1991, I was the managing editor of a group of newspapers (Post Newspapers based in Palm Desert) and was “burned out.” I went to the VA for help. At the time, I didn't realize I had PTSD. I was totally unprepared for the vivid flashbacks that often landed me back in the steaming jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia.

GO HERE TO READ THE REST.

Here's a Collection of Cartoons Because You Need to Laugh

It's time for a laugh break. With all the chaos and hatred engulfing our country we need to divert our attention toward something positi...