Dog Gone! Spencer shredded Terry’s hope for school board position

Labrador mix chews up petition with almost 200 signatures

The Beaufort Gazette reported Friday that Terry Thomas of Lady’s Island had a petition with almost 200 signatures when he went out to check the mail. But when he returned from the mail box, Spencer, his 8-month-old Labrador and bull mastiff mix, had chewed up the petition.

Note - this isn’t Spencer shown here. It’s his body-double “Tank.” Go here to learn more about this inquisitive fellow.

Okay Now…Who Doesn’t Belong in this lineup?

image source

On the way to Ethics committee:view hypocrites feigning indignation

David Fitzsimmons / Arizona Daily Star, Politicalcartoons.com

Environmental solution - China's New Bus "Straddles" Cars

The finished project is known officially as the "3D fast bus," but the nickname "straddling bus" is no misnomer. 

The bus will literally straddle the road and carry a shocking number of people -- around 1300 passengers -- over cars and under overpasses.

Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment Co., Ltd, proposed the bus idea. They say the bus will travel at up to 60 km/h (about 37mph). Construction of the 186 km of rails that will carry the bus will begin at the end of the year.

TAKE ACTION: Don't let public transportation in the United States fall behind in environmental awesomeness.

Robot to expose hidden secrets of the Great Pyramid of Giza

I’m a sucker for Egyptian history and stories.

I love it when stuff like this is in the news.

Device will unlock Egyptian room that has been sealed for 4,500 years

Following in the footsteps of Howard Carter and Abbot and Costello, a specialized robot will penetrate deeper into the Great Pyramid of Giza than ever before. The robot, part of a years long exploration called the Djedi Project, will explore a shaft inaccessible to a previous robot, unlocking a room that has remain sealed for 4,500 years.

Related stories:

The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World

Amazing Egyptian Discoveries

How Were the Egyptian Pyramids Built?

Poison patrol: NOAA, FDA to test seafood for dispersants

Agencies hope to reassure public, but some scientists remain skeptical

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — Amid undying criticism over the large-scale use of Corexit in the Deepwater Horizon response, NOAA and the Food and Drug Administration are developing a lab test to detect traces of the chemical dispersant in seafood. The test, they hope, will finally put to rest concerns that poisons from the compounds used to break up the oil will linger in the food chain.

Photo: A mixture of dispersant and fresh crude oil on ocean surface nine miles from the Deepwater Horizon oil well spill source in the Gulf of Mexico on May 6. In the effort to break up oil before it could hit beaches and marshes, oil spill responders applied more than 1.8 million gallons of chemical dispersant on the surface and at the source of the oil gusher.

An unlucky day today? Friday the 13th and other superstitions

Who doesn't look forward to Friday? People spooked by Friday the 13th.

On this supposedly unlucky day, let's investigate some associated myths, plus a few other superstitions.

Not worried or anything, but when is the next Friday the 13th?

Next Search: Start nothing new

Birth order: Sorry, kid, first-borns really are smarter

Birth order makes a difference when it comes to brains, personality, study finds

Birth order within families has long sparked sibling rivalry, but it might also impact the child's personality and intelligence, a new study suggests. First-borns are typically smarter, while younger siblings get better grades and are more outgoing, the researchers say.

The findings weigh in on a long-standing debate: What effect if any does birth order have on a person's life? While numerous studies have been conducted, researchers have yet to draw any definitive conclusions.

The results lend support to some previous hypotheses — for instance, that the eldest sibling tends to have higher aptitude. But the study also contradicts other proposed ideas, for example, that first-borns tend to be more extroverted.

Eyes in the sky tonight – Perseid meteor shower visable

Look to the skies between midnight tonight and dawn on Friday. Perseid meteors should be visible every night from now until next week.

The Perseids are produced by trails of grit left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle during its 133-year orbit. Earth starts plowing through the Swift-Tuttle debris in late July, and the height of the shower comes annually around… Aug. 12-13th.

The Perseids are so named because they appear to emanate from a point in the constellation Perseus, also known as a "radiant." Because the radiant is in northern skies, Northern Hemisphere observers are in a more favorable position to see the shower. The strength of the shower varies from year to year, depending on what part of Swift-Tuttle's debris trail our planet moves through.

Go to this NASA chat page and talk with Bill Cooke, the head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. He says this year is going to be a good viewing year.

Guest Blog - Six Months to Go Until The Largest Tax Hikes in History

I found this blog – Americans For Tax Reform – this morning. This article was written a month ago, but it’s still very timely.

I’m interested in non-partisan assessments of our tax system. If this article would have stayed away from some Conservative catch phrases like “ObamaCare” it would have more validity. Talking about “Three Great Waves” crashing down on the economy sounds a bit too partisan to me. Biblical even.

However, after reading the entire document (link provided below) I do agree with the contention that our taxation system is only going to stink more in 2011.  

From Americans For Tax Reform:

In just six months, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect.  They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves on January 1, 2011:

(N.B. This version of the document contains even more tax hikes than the original version did)

Harlem Democrat Rangel's night for ethics amnesia

Charlie’s “What me worry” attitude reflects a confidence that he’s going to get away with 20-terms of corruption.

And why not? That’s the culture in Washington, where the powerful don’t pay for their sins.

New York pols show up - some reluctantly - to congressman's bash

It was the antithesis of Chelsea Clinton's wedding — a glittering social event on the New York political calendar that many prominent politicians wished (very privately) they did not have to attend and hoped (very secretly) would somehow be canceled.

But Charlie Rangel's 80th birthday party and campaign fundraiser in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel went off without a hitch Wednesday night . . . if you don't count the formal ethics charges filed against the 20-term Harlem Democratic congressman last month, his rambling and defiant defense of his conduct on the House floor Tuesday, and the last-hurrah aura to his re-election campaign. Grabbing a microphone at the beginning of the evening and abandoning any pretence of stiff formality despite the lavish setting, Rangel declared, "I've been to a lot of funerals, but this damn sure ain't no funeral, is it?"